Step by Step Tutorial for ‘Impatiently Waiting’ (2012) by Mario Parga

Step by Step Tutorial for ‘Impatiently Waiting’ (2012) by Mario Parga        (www.marioparga-art.com)

The following is a short tutorial of how I painted ‘Impatiently Waiting’, a portrait of 

my daughter aged four and a half.

The Colors:

All the colors used for this painting were ShinHan Premium Watercolors. My palette consisted of:

Permanent Violet

Ultramarine Deep

Horizon Blue*

Hooker’s Green

Lemon Yellow

Permanent Yellow Deep

Yellow Ochre

Brilliant Orange

Vermilion

Light Red

Brilliant Pink*

Crimson Lake

Burnt Sienna

Sepia

(*Both these colors were new to me and not a standard part of my watercolor palette, but I knew they would be perfect for the hat and coat.

I used Fabriano Artistico cold pressed traditional white paper (140lb weight) cut to approximately 22” x 18” and three brushes (all Winsor & Newton rounds); a #2 sable, #6 sable and a  #10 nylon brush. I added a small amount of gum Arabic to my clean distilled water used for color dilution. I did not use art masking fluid at any time during the painting. I stretched the paper thoroughly before starting the piece, wiping the surface gently with a natural sponge to remove some of the size, then taped it to a wooden drawing board with gummed tape. Once dry, I began the painting process.

Stage 1 – The Drawing

Using a 2B pencil, I drew the image of my daughter onto a medium weight drawing paper. Then I traced this drawing with an H grade pencil onto Canson tracing paper and transferred the image to the Fabriano watercolor paper. I tend to use this technique when painting figures with watercolor as I like minimal graphite and interference on the watercolor paper’s surface.

 Stage 2 – Initial Coloring of the Face

Whenever I paint a portrait I always begin with the eyes then work out towards the rest of the face, usually working down towards the nose then mouth and chin. At this point in the painting I used light washes of various mixes of yellow ochre, burnt sienna, sepia, ultramarine and light red. When the washes were almost dry, I applied a damp brush to the edge to soften and blend the wash lines.

 Stage 3 – Coloring the Hat

I next added color to the hat to give me a sense of color and color temperature. The main color of the hat was painted with Horizon Blue, Permanent Violet and Burnt Sienna.

 Stage 4 – Second Stage of Coloring the Face

I next began to continue work on the face, working down from the eyes to chin as described before until I had a reasonably finished portrait. Using washes and the same technique as before, I added Vermilion, Brilliant Orange and Permanent Violet to the flesh mixes.

 

Stage 5 – The Hair, Coat and Hat

I then added another wash of blue to the hat, added the colors to the coat and painted my daughter’s hair. The pink on the coat is almost straight Brilliant Pink, the pale blue is Horizon Blue. The hair was painted with mixes of Permanent Yellow Deep, Yellow Ochre, Burnt Sienna and Sepia.

Stage 6 – Refinements

During this stage, I refined the face with more detail and added additional washes in places for opacity to the coat’s colors then painted over these with the shadows.

 Stage 7 – The Hands & Skirt

The hands and skirt were painted last, then I made last minute adjustments to the face and hair until I

 was satisfied with the finished painting. I then carefully removed the painting from the drawing 

board using a craft knife.

Stage 8 – The Finished Painting ‘Impatiently Waiting’

A few hours later I photographed the painting properly, here is the final and finished result.

  

Additional Notes

Photographs 1 – 7 were taken with my wife’s cell phone camera and my small compact camera so the color isn’t entirely accurate. Photo #8 was taken with my professional photographic equipment.

www.marioparga-art.com