Wednesday, December 2, 2015

Diner Portrait in Watercolor

I paint this portrait sketch of Ralph Giguere while sitting in a booth in the diner. He is sitting across from me, with soft window light coming from the left. 

Ralph Giguere, UArts professor, watercolor
I do the painting in two stages. I have a 15 minute session before the food arrives to sketch in the basic shapes and to lay down a few watercolor washes. 

Then after the plates are cleared, I have another 15 minutes or so to come back in with more washes and define some lines and textures with the watercolor pencils. I try to capture the animated look Ralph gets when he talks about something that excites him.
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2 comments:

Tom Hart said...

This is particularly successful, James. I immediately caught the sense of excitement - movement, even (which is not easy to portray in a headshot/portait). The interplay of light and dark is really effective too - a reminder of how useful some well-placed colored pencil accents can be.

Fabio said...

Great expression. I also love the reddish tone at the corner of the eyes, it makes them really alive!