WATERCOLOUR PORTRAITS

Watercolour portraits are a little quicker to complete than an oil painting, because although they require me to build up many thin washes of paint, this paint dries instantly unlike oil paint layers which take days to dry. The luminous quality of watercolour seems to echo that of a child’s skin, and I find them a particularly good option for a colour portrait of a child.

Watercolour portrait
Watercolour portrait
Watercolour portrait

COMMISSIONING A WATERCOLOUR

Here’s a quick summary of how the process works. Firstly have a look on the home page if you haven’t visited there already for general information on commissioning a portrait.  There’s more information on how to select suitable photos for me to work from here including what sort of photographs I’ll need to work from and how the process works from start to finish. When you’re ready please contact me by phone or email and we can have a chat about what you are looking for with your portrait. If you are happy to go ahead I’ll begin painting and when the watercolour is nearly finished I’ll send you over a colour scan so you can see how it’s progressing and give me any feedback that will help me to complete it.

For watercolour paintings, I like to use Windsor and Newton’s watercolour in tubes (not pans) and pure sable brushes, on Arches’ Aquarelle Watercolour Paper. This is a heavyweight mould-made paper of 300 gsm which is colour-stable and acid-free, and is designed not to wrinkle or warp however many layers of colour are applied. Watercolour paper is available in either ‘hot-pressed’ or ‘cold-pressed’ varieties, and I prefer hot-pressed as it gives a smoother surface more suitable for finely detailed painting. It also allows me to place a wash on the sheet and then blot some of it off before it’s absorbed, so that I can build subtle layers of colour.

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ANNA BREGMAN PORTRAITS

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