wayfaringwordhack | Snippet Sunday

Many, many years ago, some family of J's asked us to paint their cat for them. We never did, and now their cat has passed away ( a couple of years ago).

I determined to make up for our lack by drawing the couple's grandkids for them. I did a sketch with graphite and charcoal but decided it might not be a style that the grandparents like (too dark). I'll still send it to them anyhow because they might like it, or they can pass it along to the parents:

Since the grandparents have a lot of watercolors and miniatures hanging in their house, I opted for 5"X8" watercolor sketches instead. I messed up M--the colors are way too cold* on her face and the resemblance isn't that great--so I'm re-sketching her again. No worries, says I; it's all practice and, therefore, all good:

I liked the way P turned out**, without the hard ink lines that I used on M, giving me yet another reason to redo her portrait:

paul - watercolor

Little by little, I'm getting the hang of watercolors. Little by little, I'm learning to stop trying to do too much. :P
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* I made the mistake of starting the painting outdoors, mid-afternoon, and finishing it up late at night with halogen light. Totally threw off the colors.

** Taking a photo of it allowed me to see that he has a "hole" or a disappearing cheek, so the final painting has some color on the the right side, from his ear down over the shoulder to block in his face better. :P