My art making lately has been quite solitary. I occasionally enter pieces in shows, sometimes get together with other art-minded people at an area senior center, rarely take a workshop, but more and more I spend time alone in my little studio, trying out things that interest me. For several years I have been part of an online group (on Flickr and Facebook) called Julia Kay's Portrait Party. In that group people submit photographs of themselves, and others draw or paint or otherwise interpret from the photos. Then they share the results with the group.
Sometimes I draw portraits with colored pencil or graphite, occasionally I do an acrylic painting, and other times, like this time, I trot out my watercolors. I hadn't done a watercolor portrait in over a year, and it felt good trying to create a believable flesh tone, and hair that seems curly. I like the results here, though the portrait is somewhat idealized. Meredith has some character lines on her face, but I did not emphasize them. What spoke to me in her photo was her warm smile and kind eyes, so that's what I concentrated on.
Pretty often artists in this group over emphasize lines and creases, making the person in the portrait look more severe than necessary. I'm not sure why that bothers me so much - perhaps a reflection of how ambivalent I am about my own lines and wrinkles.
Anyway, here is Meredith.
