Averie and Ellie...
Several years ago one of my granddaughters visited New York City with a friend, and sent back a few photographs. I was intrigued by the idea of doing a quick (well, semi-quick) watercolor sketch of the two teenagers in sunglasses. After I used my MacBook's photo app to crop out the surroundings, I simply enlarged the image and concentrated on capturing their sunlit smiles. Step 1 I sketched in a few details in pencil, but mostly wanted to rely on my eye and a limited palette of transparent colors to build the shapes and emphasize light and shadow. I tried to remember to stop every now and then to capture the progress of my painting –– always a challenge for me once I get started! For the first two steps, I worked exclusively with my favorite #12 Cosmo-Top Spin round brush, as it holds a good point. Colors used in the first two steps: Holbein's Burnt Sienna and Mineral Violet; and Winsor & Newton's French Ultramarine, Burnt Umber, and Sepia. By step 3, and in the final ...