Watercolor Portraits on Gesso
I guess I really don’t like to make things easy on myself. I love doing portraits, but I find them very challenging. And this week I’ve been working on a couple done in watercolor on paper coated with gesso. I had posted this one of my husband a few posts back, an simply tightened it up and added the background.
Miraculously, it came together sort of easily – maybe because it was my third try from that particular reference photo, and it is a face I know pretty well by now…
So, I got a little overconfident, and tried to do another one. this is from a photo taken of a caviste (wine merchant) in Provence whom we like a lot. Whenever we go on vacation with friends we seem to get to know the local caviste – and we’ve been gong to this part of Provence for years now. I found this one extremely difficult – something about the tilt of the head and the mouth still aren’t quite right, but it’s almost right. I went back in with pencil, and then water soluble pencil, because I couldn’t get the pigment to stick everywhere on the gesso. Fighting with this subject has worn me out for now, but maybe I’ll try another one in a day or two.
rue Manuel bis 
Casey,
I am really impressed with your portraits – even if they have been a challenge for you. What does your husband think of his?
These are wonderful. (And, your husband is adorable!)
I prefer portraits, but I’m drawing anything and everything to improve my skills. One thing I’ve noticed in photographs is that many times facial features are skewed, and if you are drawing from a photograph, you will notice that sometimes the feature placements and angles cannot be true. If I’m drawing a tilted head, there’s a mental fight because I want to straighten the tilt. Photographs for magazine covers and ads are often Photoshopped to correct the skew. One example is that eyes seem to be at an impossible alignment, so one eye (usually the far one) is shifted.
gosh Casey, these are just so wonderful!!!!!
Great work Casey…the background on M. ‘s portrtait makes it “complete” and I love the other portrait- you’ve captured such nice expression in his eyes and around his mouth! And I love your colours…gives me the impression of “old” colours, which I alwasy love!
Ronell
Thank you all!
Shirley, Michel actually likes this because it really does look like him.
Jenny, thanks for the insightful comment. I Had never thought about the way photos distort a face, but it’s true that it sometimes seems next to impossible to draw from a photograph, while in drawing from life the experience is completely different.
These are terrific, Casey! The top one looks very Cezannesque. I’ll bet Michel is pleased. If your portrait is any indication, he has a very sweet nature. And as for the eyes in a portrait—they are so hard to get aligned right when drawing from life, too, even with lots of experience. I recently saw a major Ingres show in Paris and I was startled to notice that in many of his portraits, the eyes were ‘off’ to the extent that the subjects looked as though they had slight cases of ‘wandering eye.’ Larry Rivers used to deliberately smudge through one eye in his portraits so he wouldn’t have to deal with this problem!
I really love “The Cavist”, beautiful colours and a very sensitive perception of the subject. This portrait has soul, and it is so much more important than any technical perfection!
By the way: where in Provence?
And I forgot to say: I love the header of your blog, absolutly wonderful!
I really like them both, great character and such a loose, confident approach.
Casey, I think your use of mixed media is stunning. Wonderful portraits and such a classy, painterly style. I’m making an awful mess of a watercolour at the moment. Forcing myself to finish it and then I’ll gesso it over and try your technique.
I find it scary to go in and add things to a piece I’m happy with. You’ve done that so beautifully with the portrait of your husband. And the caviste looks wonderful. You’ve captured a lovely smile. may i ask what size they are?
Gosh…I love them both. Great job!!
sandy
also at
http://dustyducktales.blogspot.com
These both look extremely accomplished! I love the sense of light in the one of your husband. I also like the mark-making of the pencils in the bottom portrait. I envy you this ability – portraits are so difficult!
Wonderful portraits! Well done, indeed!
both portraits are beautiful! love the colors.
The top portrait especially is very atmospheric. Fantastic.