Today’s watercolor experiment:

I’m back at home, in my comfy studio. My visit to the Norton Simon Museum is still fresh in my mind. I wanted to paint another portrait in a different manner than I have previously. I did use the same technique: A line for the nose, one for the mouth and two for the eyes; but I changed the colors I used. Instead of reds and greens for the highlights and shadows respectively, I used yellow and purple. I used an exaggerated skin tone (shaded toward the red side of the spectrum, for the forehead, and yellow for the hair. The latter two colors merged to produce an orange hue.  However, what I really had in mind was a dark background for maximal contrast with the portrait.

Portrait of a Boy
12″x9″ 140# Cold Pressed Watercolor Block

The piece that inspired me was No.398: Heavy Circles 1927 by Wassily Kandinsky. It is a stunning piece.