Painting Hair

Yesterday evening at art class I painted the woman's hair. I started by painting the thick main strands in raw umber. After that I became a bit timid, I wanted to paint the thin wisps of hair that surrounded these main strands, but did not know how. Fortunately Julie came to the rescue (this after all is why I am attending an art class). Julie showed me how a flat brush, and the correct consistency of paint, leaves the bristles of the flat brush in thin little clumps which allow the painting of thin parallel lines which look just like wisps of hair. I used Winsor Newton Artisan Water Mixable Thinner to get a paint of just the correct thickness to achieve this effect. I finished the hair like this with mixes of raw umber, burnt sienna, ultramarine, and just the gentlest hint of white to show off highlights.

During the evening, one of my fellow students started to tell me what my painting told her about the character of the people I was painting. She told me that the fellow on the left was a serious person, but having fun in this painting; and that the woman in the painting has a generous personality. Hearing people read emotions into my painting has given me perhaps my greatest yet sense of satisfaction that I am beginning to achieve my goals.