“In the garden where I feel safe, nothing can harm me, or make me afraid.
In nature’s peace there’s beauty and light, in that garden where dreams come alive.”
-Katrina koltes
If you’ve done the warm-up exercises you’ll have plenty of ideas for this one. Again, I use some of my favorite colors, layering them with transparent washes to create this particular effect, much like the one we used in the warm-up lesson.
As a nature lover, I love to add elements of nature and animals in my work. This is a great way to express our unique personality in our paintings.
To do this, you can ask yourself these simple questions:
- Where do I love to spend my free time? Is it out in the nature? In a forest or the woods, the mountains, your garden or someplace with flowers? Or maybe the seaside, or lakes?
- What are my favorite colors?
- What are my favorite animals or animal totems?
- what do I want to express that reflects my character and personality?
You don’t necessarily have to write down the answers, it’s enough to have an idea as you begin, so that your intuition and heart can lead the rest of the way.
“The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift.” – Albert Einstein
First, we will begin drawing and painting the face. I chose a more ‘challenging’ angle this time as I want to show you how simple it really can be if you follow some basic steps with me.
I admit I used to be terrified of these type of face angles. But with time I realized that, just like everything, it just takes a bit of practice. If we never try, we never learn right? There’s just so much emotion that can be portrayed with an upturned face or a simple tilt of the head or expression of the face.
So let’s begin shall we? You can either use the reference photo I used here, or use your own. I also put together a Pintrest board for you so you can gather inspiration and use other reference photos that inspire you!
Here is the one I used as a starting point, letting my imagination and intuition guide me the rest of the way.
How did it go? Now that we established the features and position of the face we can move on to starting to add color.
Remember, layering with watercolor takes patience. It’s easy to want to finish it all in one sitting, but also unlikely.
You will see in the videos there are times when I have to leave it alone for a bit so it can dry between layers.
The best thing is to go keep yourself busy with something else. Grab a cup of tea or coffee, go take a walk, and get your inspiration flowing.
I promise that when you get back to it with fresh eyes you will probably notice things you didn’t see before.