Two-tone

Today I felt like painting in watercolor only (no pen outline), and I wanted to find the colors in the brights and shadows, preferably using as few as possible. So I painted this girl almost exclusively in Opera Pink and Prussian Blue, with the exception of a few Indian Yellow skin tones, and the eyes and hair. And even those have undertones.

It turned out fairly successfully, although I initially planned for the blouse to be white lace; I should have stopped and thought it through better and painted it in only shades of gray. In trying to distinguish the see-through parts from the solid parts by also using the pink and blue, it became a little busy and also not at all like white lace! But I'm pretty happy with the subtle and delicate tones of the face.

The background is another story—someday I will learn to paint a nice solid smooth wash, but today is not that day. I painted it a darker shade of the blue and then, when it dried all blotchy, went over it with a coat of Payne's Grey, purposely making it streaky, like that's what I planned. Shhh, don't tell anyone.

"BluePink Girl"—pencil and Paul Jackson watercolors (and a teensy bit of white gel pen) on Fluid 140-lb. coldpress watercolor paper, 9x12 inches.