Miss Kate watercolor - need your opinion

[stacwase]

I'm attaching a watercolor I did of Miss Kate. My goal wasn't so much to make the painting identifiable as Katie, but to portray the way the light falls on a cat while she is lying in a window.

Please let me know what you think. I'm doing an attachment since ImageStation has been so slow lately.

[stacwase]

Hmmmmm - where is the attachment? Let's try again.

[kimlovescats]

WOW, that is very good ..... I know I sure couldn't do anywhere near that well!!! Great job Stacy!

[stacwase]

Thanks.

I'm really not very good at animals. I'm better at people.

Here's one I did from somebody else's photograph.

Unfortunately, even though I have a teenage daughter to pose for me and I offered to pay her, she refuses. I don't have any young children. So I have very few opportunities to paint children and young women, which is what I love to paint the most.

I don't know why she won't pose for me. I'd pay her $20 an hour, which is more than she could make doing anything else. She just rolls her eyes and says it's stupid. When she saw this painting she just rolled her eyes and said "It doesn't even look like me". I said "That's because it isn't you." How could it be her? She wouldn't pose!!!!!

Why does she have to be so difficult????? It would mean so much to me.

[CatDad]

I like both of them. I think that you have talent, IMO.

The one of Miss Kate is cool, I like paintings like that.

I have never had a teenage daughter, so remember that. However, from the sounds of it she is pretty normal. It has nothing to do with the money, she has it in her mind that it is not cool and there is not good explination. She'll come around at some time and all should be good.

[stacwase]

Unfortunately, she won't come around until she has grown up and had children of her own. By that time she won't be as easy to paint. Hmmmmph.

I have two other stepdaughters who would be willing to pose for me, but one has had two children and so her bones don't show as well under her skin. It's very difficult to make people look 3-dimensional when you don' t have lots of very strong highlights and shadows.

Hopefully the other one won't change her mind - though I'd have to drive a long way to do her portrait. She lives about an hour from here.

My daughter is here, and easily accessible! Most teenaged girls would just love to model, but of course since I'm her mom she things it's the most uncool thing on earth to do.

[iloverat]

Oh, my!!! You are quite talented. The painting you did of the young woman was wonderful! I love paintings that are composed primarily of shadow and light.

I tell you, I would give anything to have a portrait that my mother had painted of me. Teenage years aren't so terribly far from early twenties. Often, mothers and daughters become closer at that time. I know it happened for me and I hope you two will experience the same.

[AmberLee]

What if you asked some of her friends to model ... would that make it cooler perhaps?

[catcrazylady]

You are VERY talented!! My mother is a portrait artist but she does oils. She is good but she doesn't do it very often because they take her forever! I personally have always loved the effects of watercolor. The one of Kate is fantastic! Your eyes start at the right and for a brief second you don't know what your looking at. Then you take in the face and it all comes together!
The woman is beautiful. Do you do this for people? My mom also does her stuff from photo's. You could have people send you pictures and you could do watercolors for them. You could charge by size or whatever. I bet you could get a lot of business. Even from PT people!!!
The only thing that makes me nervous is...you said you need good bone structure. What if someone has a pudgy face??

[sirrahbed]

I love watercolor and think these are very good! Maybe you can sneak in while your "model" is sleeping"? THAT would make you very popular I would think Really, though, I do love the watercolors-VERY nice!!

[catnapper]

Urgh! I had a reply all ready to send and someone walked across the board to reset the page!

Ok, now that I got that out of my system, I think its a beautiful watercolor (both are)

I wish I could do watercolors and washes! Its so nice to be able to capture a mood, a moment so adeptly. I am an artist too, but am very controlled, and every time I try to let go, I end up tightening back up! I have control issues, I guess.

Way to go, and keep on going!