Blog

Day 27

Paper: Ampersand Aquaboard

Pigment: Ultramarine Blue, Quinacridone Red, Raw Sienna, Burnt Sienna, Aureolin

Still working on the portrait of my daughter.  The whole thing felt to delicate and I wanted to push the values of the hair, shadows, background and clothing darker for more contrast.  I painted the hair darker and the shadow on the face then the entire light side of the face went too light.  I glazed the light side of the face with a wash of quinacridone and raw sienna then added a dash of ultramarine blue to ish it.  The highlights in the hair became way too light I had to add several glazes of violet.  All in all I am happy with the value range.  Tomorrow the real fun takes place.  I will be refining the form with light washes and dry brush.

What I learned:

Once the Aquaboard is completely dry you can use a damp brush and brush back almost to the white of the board

Start off much darker in the lights than you think you need to!  It is way to easy to get dazzled with the pretty colors and ignore the impact of contrast.