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My watercolour portrait paintings gallery
My watercolour portrait paintings gallery: a collection of my latest creations and my personal favorites. You'll notice that, apart from a few, they are all watercolour portraits of women!
Women whose eyes have a story to tell.
They all do. Life has taught me that we never really know what is going on in another person's life. We know only what they choose to share. And that women's faces, their faces for the outside world, don't tell their stories and their pains. But their eyes do. Sometimes. In a fleeting look.
I am caught by those looks.
"You promised"
Finishing a watercolour portrait painting
Final darkest darks going in before I adjust the mid-tones in the morning light and try not to over-work! My favourite bits are those that the water and pigments did on their own :)
Loving the combination of Permanent orange and Turquoise green with touches of Payne's grey: a new palette for me but one that I will use again.
Watercolour eye detail.
Watercolour hair detail. Just look at the gorgeous colours that the pigments made all on their own!
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"La Signora"
But, first of all, my family.
Watercolours of my family
This is my daughter when she was younger. I so loved her expression. She is way more grown up now - you can see my latest of her on my home page. A much different look! She no longer likes me photographing her: a teenagers prerogative!
In painting the detail of some of her hair I used watercolour pencils, in the way that you're not meant to! But which I find, with care, gives some wonderful effects. Find out here.
This is my man in monochrome, but it's a sparkly monochrome. Just like his full of life personality.
There are pigments that dance in water and there are pigments that love to salsa and some! The one I used to paint my man is one of the latter - the new Van Gogh Graphite watercolour by Royal Talens. It literally looks like it is alive when you touch it into the water on the paper.
And this is me.
My watercolour portraits of women
Monochromatic portraits don't have to be boring!
Quiet the opposite in fact. And you don't have to use a sparkling metallic watercolour as in my portrait of my husband, to make that happen.
Choose a lovely granulating pigment and cold pressed paper and you'll get some wonderful effects that add texture to the painting. Half of the work will be done for you!
I adore the Royal Talens Van Gogh dusk colours: this portrait was painted in Dusk Violet that will give you gorgeous gradations from near black, mauve, to grey and pink. All in one pan/tube! Just add water and the magic begins!
Find out what other colours are best to get started with here.
Just two colours
Adding a second colour to your palette gives you all sorts of new possibilities. My particular favorite is to choose a red for the second colour and to use it sparingly to add some areas of warmth to the portrait.
I painted both of these two women with my favorite Payne's Grey (Van Gogh watercolours by Royal Talens) and Alizarin Crimson (by Winsor & Newton)
"Pale lady" - 2018
"Haunted and hunted"
But using the mix of the two colours throughout gives a whole different effect.
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"Emily"
This, "Emily", one of my early portraits that I have kept for myself. I painted her in Madder Lake Deep and Payne's Grey (Van Gogh watercolours by Royal Talens) from the superb pan set that my husband brought me as a surprise for Christmas the year I started painting again.
I was working with my very old Rowney set that my mum and dad had brought me when I was a child! He still recalls me feeling somewhat dubious about them as they weren't a brand name that I knew and hankered after owning. But the moment I touched my brushes into them and started painting I was hooked on their pigments. And still am. I did go and find my husband to thank him by the way!
"Don't tell me to be strong"
There are times when a woman needs the man in her life to hold her world safely for her. Just for a brief moment. Because she is hurting. She doesn't want to hear logic. Or be told to be strong. Damn it! She already is.
She was painted in Prussian Blue and Burnt Umber from the same set.
Life in limited palette watercolours
Nor do limited palette watercolours mean a boring final look. Experience has taught me that choosing well three or a maximum of four warm, cool, and complimentary colours gives me so much more beautiful results than if I had used a whole range of pigments from my palette.
"I can't love you in the dark..."
I listen to music when I'm painting and my favorite CD's to paint with are Duffy, Gabrielle, Sam Smith, Human, the Lighthouse Family, and Adele. Especially Adele. I was listening to Adele 25 when I painted this portrait and the track Love in the Dark.
"Leave me alone"
For many months I have gone to "finish" this lady and each and every time she has "told me" to leave her alone! So, I have taken the masking tape off from around her face and so now she is as she wants to be.
My "Great depression lady"
When I had finished painting this woman she reminded me so very much of the photographs of women in the 1930's, with her hat and fur trimmed coat. Dealing with such difficulties. Hence her name. A girlfriend commented that maybe she was just coping. And she hit the nail on the head and made me cry through no fault of her own. For at that moment, I was just. Coping. I had lost someone very special in my life.
"The hurting" - 2020
"Dementia"
Sometimes just one word is all that needs to be said. For anyone who is loosing or has lost a loved one to this word, there is nothing more that I need to say to. You already know it all.
When I painted this woman's face it was the end of one year and the beginning of another and, as you do, you share your hopes with your partner that the year to come will be better for everyone than the year gone. But the early morning New Year's day phone call brought with it news that made it clear that it would be even harder. Especially for him.
This is what my heart painted and where my brush told me to stop. And I knew why: the story was all there.
My latest watercolour portrait paintings
My latest portraits can be found here in my What's New blog.
Something different: a Halloween diversion!
Not exactly what you could call a portrait. But he has character!
My top tips for watercolour portraits
These beginner tips for watercolour portraits will give you the results you want to see, quickly.
Are watercolour portraits hard? No. Should beginners paint watercolour portraits? Yes! Absolutely! Find out why.
Starting out in watercolour and want to paint captivating portraits?
Sign-up for my latest tips, secrets, and terrific tutorials to get you through the disappointing phase faster and painting the portraits you want to.