Kaitlin
Posted: October 22, 2021 Filed under: Uncategorized 17 CommentsPortraits in watercolour are so difficult! As part of my role as a volunteer on the Education Committee of the CSPWC, last night I had the pleasure of moderating a Zoom workshop — Portraits and Figures in Watercolour — for Bill Rogers. Since my duties as a moderator were not too time-consuming, I painted along.
Bill has a wonderful way of teaching. He takes his time getting the drawing right, explaining the planes of the face and looking at shadows, highlights and halftones. He makes it looks so easy, and that comes from years of practice. He uses a limited palette — mostly Raw Sienna, Cadmium Red, Alizarin Crimson, Cerulean Blue, Ultramarine Blue, and Burnt Sienna — and starts by painting the shadows first. I painted on a sheet of Baohong watercolour paper for this. As you can see, the eyes aren’t quite lined up and I really messed up the washes on the neck, but I learned a ton from Bill and I hope to try this again on better paper.
This workshop was part of the Education Program of the Canadian Society of Painters in Watercolour. We have more exciting workshops and demos coming up this fall, so please have a look or get on our mailing list.
Shari Blaukopf's Sketchbook 
This is just lovely, Shari. Use if whites and the shadows work so well. I was never good at portraits so I really admire this painting.
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Thanks so much Judy. I know this requires a lot of practice but Bill really gave us some good techniques to use!
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Soulful!
Sent from my iPad
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Thanks so much Muriel!
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Shari, I think this is amazing.
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Susan, you are very kind. I don’t think this is amazing but it is a step in the right direction for me, as far as figuring out a process when painting portraits in watercolour.
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Wow, quite the departure from what we’re used to seeing of your work. Speaking from From experience, watercolor portraits are quite the challenge, but this is wonderful! Thanks for sharing your work and the few tips from your instructor
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I know. I don’t usually paint this way! But it’s always wonderful to learn and try someone else’s method. Eventually you incorporate all of that into your own style, I think.
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This is lovely! There is so much personality there. And thank you for introducing the CSPWC.CA. I have just purchased a streaming demo from them. x
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I’m so glad you did that. I guess it was the winter scene. I thought it was a great demo and I hope you did too!
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Simply beautiful!!
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Thanks so much Pat!
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i love your portrait…………..have to work on that ……… josie
On Fri, Oct 22, 2021 at 2:51 PM Shari Blaukopf’s Sketchbook wrote:
> Shari Blaukopf posted: ” Portraits in watercolour are so difficult! As > part of my role as a volunteer on the Education Committee of the CSPWC, > last night I had the pleasure of moderating a Zoom workshop — Portraits and > Figures in Watercolour — for Bill Rogers. Since my duties as” >
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I have to work on it too Josie. All the time. And it never gets easier : )
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Hi Shari. I think you did a great job actually. The shadows are lovely & the skin tone too, which is very hard to pull off. This really is a nice palette. I know people who absolutely love rendering portraits; myself, I stay completely away. LOL!
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Thanks so much Mary. Portraits are so difficult but his process was really great. I actually do want to try this again soon. Just need to find a model since I don’t like drawing my family.
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Very good painting, I rarely if ever attempt painting people because they always come out as a sort of characature. It looks like you really learned a lot in your class.
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