"Quick Sketch Portraits in Watercolor"

Painting portraits in watercolor can seem like a daunting task, but many of us  can’t resist the urge to try it. We may have a loved one who we’d like to paint or  we may simply be drawn to the challenge of capturing an interesting character on  paper. It’s so easy to “tighten up” our portrait paintings because of our focus on  “getting it right”. Painting the “quick sketch” portraits focuses on loosening up that  process and working to achieve a more relaxed look that highlights the beauty  and freshness of the watercolor medium. 

I will have partially pre-drawn portraits for you to work on as part of our exercises  - or you may draw freehand. You will be asked to bring along one or two pre-dawn portraits of your own on watercolor paper. (on approximately 9”x11”paper,  head only). 

The 3 day format of the workshop will give us time to practice the techniques we  are exploring. The references we’ll be working with on days 1 and 2 will cover a wide range of ages and skin tones. This workshop will be a combination of demo and hands-on portrait work.

• During Days 1 and 2, you will primarily work from partially pre-drawn portraits that will be provided in the class. You will finish the drawings, but the basics will  be there so we can spend the majority of our time painting. (If you prefer to work  completely freehand, that is fine. ) 

• On day 3, we will work on one or two portraits of your own that you have  prepared for the class. 

• Tech Tips: Each day we will explore a technology tool to use to help you in your portrait paintings. 

• Students should be comfortable with painting in watercolor, but do not need to have experience with portrait painting.

About the Instructor:

Pam has always been drawn to portraits and figurative work. Since she retired from teaching, she’s fallen in love with portraiture in watercolor. Pam teaches watercolor workshops and presents demonstrations for local and national art organizations. 

You can find more information about her and view her work at www.pamwenger.com, 

https://www.instagram.com/pwenger32/, or https://www.facebook.com/pamwengerwatercolor/

Here's a sample video of my Quick Sketch painting process: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNgwPap5-q8&t=203s

Materials list:

I'll be providing a packet in class that contains:

• Paint samples (just a small amount) of my “go to” colors so you don’t have to buy new tubes of paint for the workshop if you don’t own these.

• Printout of my Guidelines and Tech Tips

• Printouts of the references for the 3 people we’ll be painting during days 1 and 2 of the workshop. 

• Watercolor paper with very lightly printed sketches of the people we’ll be painting together during days 1 and 2. (You'll be drawing in the value shapes, but the basics of the face will already be there)

Brushes - Make sure you have a brush (#10 or larger) that comes to a nice point. I’m currently using the Kingart Gold 9020 series brushes. I'll have some with me at the class that you can purchase.

Paints - Here’s a link to my color palette for portraits. http://www.pamwenger.com/workshop-reference-materials I’ve starred the ones that I feel are essential for portrait painting, but remember - I’ll be providing a paper with some small samples to you as well if you don’t want to invest a lot beforehand. Plan to use your regular palette of colors plus my samples.

Paper - For this three day workshop, you’ll be using the paper that I bring along. It’s actually cold press, but it will feel more like hot press to you if you are normally a cold press user (It’s a “student grade” paper). I use hot press in my regular painting. 

Day 3 Prep: Your own reference and drawing (on approximately 9”x11” watercolor paper - head only). 

Here are the colors I normally use for portraits:

Winsor Yellow Deep
Vermillion
Alizarin Crimson (prefer Daniel Smith)
Burnt Sienna (Holbein)
Raw Sienna
Quinacridone Coral
Quinacridone Magenta
Mineral Violet
Manganese Blue or Peacock Blue
Cobalt Blue
Indigo
Hookers Green