Versatile prompt

This prompt photo was provided by Next JENeration Art, and it's my favorite kind—no suggested materials or tools, just "do something with this and post it."

I decided to repeat a technique I have done a couple of times, which is to make some crazy colorful hair, but paint only the shadows plus a little blush color on the figure herself, highlighting the eyes and lips but letting everything else be suggestion only.

I particularly liked this photo because I've been wanting to expand beyond face to include more of the figure, and this one included some intricately positioned hands.

I got a little carried away with the hair and lost the back of the white gown, so I painted over some of the hair with white gesso to restore it, and then messed about with it until it looked almost right. It didn't quite work, especially because the white over the top of the hair color won't come back to the original white of the paper (and also the paints tend to bead up a little over the top of gesso), but that's okay, it's a small part of the piece.

I went around the inner edge of the hair/outer edge of the face with a black Posca pen, just to accentuate a little. I tried to keep the lace on the sleeve more of a suggestion than I managed the other day (the ill-fated flannel nightgown debacle), and it's okay, although I would have liked it if it were even looser and less defined.

The background is a wash of olive green Daler Rowney ink (for some reason I don't have an olive in watercolor), and then while it was wet I flowed India ink over the top, making it darker on the shadow side and letting the green show through on the lighter side. I think it works...it's a little blotchy here and there, but not as bad as my usual backgrounds!

I really wanted to put in the model's freckles, but A. I didn't want to ruin something into which I had put so much time, and B. the drama of the pale figure on the dark background seemed somehow antithetical to something as frivolous as freckles.

"Bryce"—Uniball pen, watercolors, acrylic ink, India ink, Posca pen, white gesso, on coldpress watercolor paper, 9x12 inches.

New tools

Today, having found the perfect reference photo to try it out, I attempted to emulate my friend Phoebe's unique combination of color and charcoal. It's hard to pull off to her expert level, however, not least of which is because she is a master shader with Carbothellos which, as far as I can tell, are like colored pencils but softer because they are "chalk-pastel." I have never liked the laborious process of shading and cross-hatching with any tool, much preferring to do minimal drawing and then jump straight to paint—and maybe outline with pen, depending on the style. But she has created such beautiful pieces using charcoal that I was persuaded to try it myself.

I think the first thing I should have done is chosen a paper with a smooth surface. I picked up my coldpress watercolor paper without thinking about it, but it has a pretty heavy tooth and a rough surface that shows up every stroke you make with charcoal, because of the highs and lows in the paper. Great for watercolor, not so much for pencils. I attempted to smooth shaded areas with paper towel, Q-tips, and my fingers, but with that paper I could only do so much, especially because I think the charcoal I was using was too hard. I did try to keep her from looking like the Bearded Lady...

For my color I used watercolor and inks rather than the Carbothellos, which worked well on some parts but not on others. I did get a nice velvety black with my India ink for her dress and portions of her hair, and used it as a little extra darkness where I wanted to obscure some poor charcoal shading. And I'm pretty happy with the reflections off that necklace. But my background is, as usual, a streaky mess that we're going to pretend are "draperies." Ha!

I'm going to call this a qualified success, and try another with smooth paper and softer charcoal sometime soon.

"Necklace Woman"—watercolors, charcoal and conté crayon, India ink, acrylic ink (background) and white gel pen, on 140-lb. coldpress watercolor paper, 9x12 inches.

Alterations

I wasn't really in the mood to paint today, but the more I contemplated the so-called lace of the blouse on Friday's portrait, the more I loathed it. It turned out looking like a little girl's flannel nightgown with a butterfly-and-flower motif, rather than the alternating open-and-closed-weave lace that it was meant to be. So I went back to the portrait and covered it up with a Jackson Blue sweater. I gave it some dark definition and some patterning on the collar with Payne's Grey to cover up what was underneath. Because it was now a little overwhelming to her face, I went back in and darkened a few things, being careful not to take the focus away from her eyes, which stand out because they are practically the only thing in the picture not in shades of pink and blue.

I think it's more effective as the portrait of a grown-up.

"BluePinkGirlredux"—shirt details changed.