Watercolor Portrait of Sweethearts

Recently, I had the honor of painting a portrait for a newlywed couple. If you're up for a time lapse, here is the finished painting and the steps it took to finish it.

(Disclaimer: please forgive the inconsistencies in the coloring of the photographs. They were taken at different times of day, and it affected the lighting.)

 First I sketched in the portrait with a grey watercolor pencil. Then I applied liquid frisket (the orange you see) over the areas I wanted untouched while I painted the background.

 The forest in the far background came next.

 Now I added green lawn, deep shadows, roughed in the leaves in the background and began detail work on the leaves in the foreground.

 I deepened the shadows in the leaves and added more detail. But it needs some deeper coloring.

 So I went back and added in a lot of reds.

 Now it's time to work on the trees. I remove the frisket.

 I paint in the trees in the midground.

 I begin the faces. For the most part in watercolors, you add your light colors first and your darks last.

 I'm deepening the skin colors and bringing in more reds.

 Now I'm adding deeper browns.

 This is a close up, so you can see what it looks like without the darks.

 Adding more reds and some deep tones.

 Now the faces are taking shape.

 Eyes.

 They bring life to the painting.

 At last, eyelashes on the bride and a goatee for the groom.

I need to deepen the skin tones and add more detail to the faces.

 It still needs more.

 Hair helps a lot.

 And blue jeans.

 And shirts.















 They're still a bit washed out. It's time to really hit the reds, shadows and details of the faces.

 It's done!