Eclectic Studio - Tammy Morrison-Koenig

I always get asked how to get started painting portraits in watercolors. Easy! Grab a tube of yellow, red and blue, some water, a brush, and good paper. As you move along in the painting process you will learn more about chroma, transparency, granulation, staining properties and such. Right now, we will worry about laying down color and not making it into mud in the process. For this painting, I am using my Strathmore watercolor journal 400 series. I really like the fact that this journal is hardcover but I wish it would lay flat when you open it and get ready to paint. Step 1 - Working in ink only, I work up a quick line drawing to act as a roadmap to my painting. Be confident in your work and don't fear mistakes.  Step 2 - painting with a limited palette. This lady is of European descent so I decided to lighten up my triad by choosing gamboge nova (Holbien), cobalt blue (Cotman), Permanent Alizarin Crimson (Holbien), this painting I also added Veridian green and burnt sie

I really haven't been in the mood for anything this past week. And it has really been hard to get anything started let alone get anything completed. So when I saw this weeks WDE (weekly drawing event) and the challenge that went with it, I thought this would be just the escape that I needed. This is a small painting of an emerging hibiscus using only a 3 secondary color triad. For this painting, I chose Magenta, Brilliant orange and Cobalt turquoise. These are colors I seldom use so I thought I would try it out. Pretty flowers always make me feel better. :) Hope you enjoy 4.25 * 4.75 in watercolor on 140lb CP