We all went out today and had a very nice day, although everything was crowded as could be. At the end of the day we had dinner, five big people and a baby.

During dinner I snapped quite a number of photos. I like the one of William eating spaghetti, the most.

Today’s watercolor experiment:

I thought I would take a risk today and, instead of painting leaves or trees or other inanimate objects, I would try my hand with a portrait – again.  I can draw or paint a head fairly well. Whether it is recognizable as a specific head, is another matter.

I liked the photo below of all the pictures I took at dinner:

William brings new meaning to the term ‘finger food’ although, come to think of it, everything he eats is finger food. Its a good thing Mom and Dad flanked him at the table. This photo is one with the fewest number of hands in the frame. In the other snaps, there are at least two or three other helping hands.

Process:

I had a feeling I would have a problem with the pasta strands, so in my pencil drawing, I just left a blank area where I would place the spaghetti.

I drew the outstretched arms and fit the contour of the head in between.

I used my formula for skin tone (cadmium red light, yellow ocher and titanium white) in different proportions to get the lighter and darker areas of the face. Undiluted cadmium red light colors the unshadowed parts of the shirt; I added a small amount of Van Dyke brown for parts of the shirt in shadow.

Comment:

I realize that the face in the watercolor only has a passing resemblance to William. The proportions of the face parts are not correct, neither is the size of the head in relation to the arms and the body. The eyes are also not right. Usually, a faithful representation of the eyes can capture the meaning of a particular moment.

I’ll chalk this one up to practice. A journey a bit outside my comfort zone, which is a good thing.