How to paint a black dog

How to paint a black dog. Don't use black.

 Have fun with the colors in the highlights.

I could have pushed the colors more in this but didn't want to get too crazy since this was a commission.

I will do this as a project for my watercolor students since it can be so much fun.

Artist Inspired Portrait Ideas to Play With

I found another blogger who had been doing self portraits for a year. http://myrnawacknov.blogspot.com/   She has explored and posted so many ideas. I shared a few of them with my adult watercolor class as  example on how to expand the use of materials and just have fun and play. My demonstration stayed pretty close to the example, but my students went over the top with the process. All of them made the project their own and I have to say, I am happy and just a little jealous of what they did.

quarter sheet watercolor paper, tissue paper, watercolor and black marker

Here is the link to one of my students whose project I just love.

http://easilyamusedstudio.blogspot.com/2011/02/self-portrait-watercolor-collage-and.html

and another link to one of my pastel self portraits

http://mklart.blogspot.com/2011/05/self-portrait-in-red.html

Bal Masque

This is a quick watercolor painting (12x20 inches) that I did last year for a local show. I did not enter it because it is not my usual style. It is really loose. I took another look at it this year and I guess it grew on me. Kind of fun, so I entered it this year.

The inspiration is from a photo that was taken from the annual Kokoon club, Bal Masque which was the ticket to get if you were in Cleveland about 80 years ago. 

portrait session, Maria Kovalenko Leysens

We had an enjoyable time at our portrait session today.

 Great model with great stories to share.

Pastel on sanded paper

 Just about an hour and one half of work time.

I am pretty comfortable with faces now. 

We will be starting sessions with costumed figures.

I plan to focus on creating a painting 

and not just a study.

Can't wait!