Learn to paint watercolor portraits with Jane Angelhart

Study portrait painting with Jane Angelhart and learn from her approach to watercolor painting. In the DVD workshop The Watercolor Portrait (produced by Jane Angelhart) you see Jane paint a watercolor portrait of a young blond boy. Her calm and paced approach uses unexpected colors, and lets them bloom under her attentive watch. Take your watercolor painting to a new level. [continued…]

The Watercolor Portrait by Jane Angelhart

In Jane’s watercolor instruction DVD, you”ll see why she calls watercolor painting a luscious experience, “like applying colored butter to a canvas.” Learn how to paint multiple luminous layers, without dissolving previous layers or muddying the color. She demonstrates the benefits of enlarging your reference material on a computer screen for greater understanding, information and improved painting. The DVD is divided into four chapters: the introduction and gallery; the main project; materials; and helpful exercises she recommends as a warm up to painting.

Jane speaks of her approach:

“Painting a portrait in watercolor is a lot like raising a child. It is a tight rope act, an incredibly fine balance between letting the vibrant transparent colors grow and bloom in unexpected directions… and being a careful and thoughtful guide, coaxing and coaching and watching… ever careful not to meddle too much with a brush and spoil the beauty. After fifteen years of painting watercolor portraits, I am still enthralled with the process. I begin each painting with excited expectation, a mother wondering if I am up to the challenge. I can't imagine a better job.

“The visual treat of a watercolor is its transparency… its clean, pure color. What better medium to use for a child's portrait? There is no white paint; so careful planning is essential to the process. The portrait is painted from light to dark (just the opposite of an oil approach). It takes calculated finesse to create multiple luminous layers, without dissolving previous layers and muddying the color. Carefully layered washes give a watercolor painting its characteristic sparkle and glow.

“Watercolors were once thought of as a sketch or study medium for subsequent oil paintings. With lightfast professional pigments, ph balanced papers, and archival framing techniques, watercolors have the potential to outlast oil paintings and are fast becoming the medium of choice.”