untitled ~ watercolors, gouache and casein paint on 3" x 6" kraft tag

i was only going to paint a face but one thing led to another... first i painted the outline of her head with a fairly heavy layer of white casein paint; once that was dry i painted on top of it with watercolors and gouache. it's a lot of fun to do this because you can use the casein to cover up or mute the watercolors and gouache. or, if you don't brush them on too vigorously, they just sit on top of the casein.


i found this when i was cleaning out the closet in my art room a few days ago... i probably painted it in 2006 - every face that i painted then had a hard stare! even though i really wanted to paint faces back then i didn't paint them often. every once in a while i'd sorta sneak up on one from behind to see if it would turn out differently... slowly slowly (2 years?) i began to realize that i could soften the gaze by either raising the pupils or lowering the upper eyelid.

i'm going to take a blogging break...

savor

this winter quiet...

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Henri Matisse in his studio in the south of France, 1948
(thank you artist and studio)

XO