Pearl Earrings #8 - watercolor

watercolor, 2018

nfs, 8"x10"

      This is another portrait using a reference photo I shot of my wife years ago. In spite of my constant nagging, this is one of only a very few times she posed for me and I've painted every photo in this series several times.

Angie #42 - watercolor

watercolor, 2017

nfs, 9"x12"

      I haven't posted a portrait of my beauty queen in a while. This one was a pleasant surprise. I thought it was going to be trash almost immediately after starting it on Fabriano Studio paper, which I have complained about a couple times before. But, a few adjustments to my normal painting method, a fair amount of loosening and I pulled out a portrait with which I'm very happy. It's loose and painterly, but realistic and accurate at the same time. It seems the unforgiving nature of this paper forced me to be more careful and purposeful in my strokes and paint application.

Angie's Shoes - watercolor

watercolor, 2016

available, 11"x15"

      I haven't done one of these in a while. A pair of my wife's shoes -- one of the many. A somewhat looser treatment than usual.

Angie #35 - watercolor

watercolor, 2016

nfs, 7"x11"

      Another portrait of my beautiful bride. I've very happy with how the shadows on her face and reflections on her sunglasses worked. The reference photo was taken by her BFF several years ago on a girls outing to the Grove Winery in Gibsonville NC, a one-time favorite haunt of theirs.

Angie #31 sketch 2 - pencil

pencil, 2016

nfs, 8"x11"

      This is just another sketch for a painting based on a particular reference photo. I've been putting off starting the painting while doing some color testing as referenced a couple weeks ago. I'll get to the painting eventually.

Pearl Earrings #1 - watercolor

watercolor, 2016

nfs, 7"x11"

      My favorite model again in what were her favorite earrings and one of my favorite outfits ;) This one is small because it was meant to be a color test to check a particular color combination for flesh tones. It worked so well - and I got so caught up in painting my wife - I ended up with a very polished, finished portrait. Not a bad couple hours.

Angie #31 sketch - watercolor

watercolor, 2016

nfs, 9"x12"

      I'm trying a new technique that I've admired for years but never spent much time trying to figure out. It involves layering colors in what on the surface seems abstract. But each layer and each color adds to the development of the image. In a way, you could say that description is accurate for a lot of watercolor. But this method is different. If you isolated just the yellow ochre in this piece, it wouldn't look anything like a portrait; that follows for most of the other colors. I'll consider this one fairly successful, though it's obvious I used cheap paper. But it is a sketchy experiment.

Angie On The Couch - watercolor

watercolor, 2016

nfs, 11"x15"

      I'm especially happy with this one. It's from a photo I took of my wife years ago.I'm very happy with the looseness, paint handling and lost/found edges here. This one probably will end up on a wall in the house somewhere.

Angie At The Wright Memorial - watercolor

watercolor, 2015

available, 11"x15"

prints and gifts available

      This is from a shot I took at the Wright Brothers Memorial in Kitty Hawk NC last March. My wife and I went back to the Outer Banks for our 25th anniversary. We spent a short honeymoon there in 1990 and have only been back once since then. This is her walking up to the monument on a very chilly morning.

      It's appropriate that posting this piece just happened to fall during this week as her birthday is today. Happy birthday, Red!

Angie #12 - acrylics

acrylics, 2006

NFS

      Here's a very old (for me) portrait I did of my wife in honor of our 25th anniversary today. Yes, there are lots of problems with the painting, but it's one of her favorites. She's also wearing a green that she loved and wore so much we named it Angie Green.
      So, happy anniversary to my Red Queen and happy St. Patrick's Day to everyone else.

Angie #30 - graphite

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