Thursday, May 3, 2012

Martha

'Martha' SOLD
6" x 6" watercolor

Yesterday while I was painting this sweet girl I had the thought that I was doing something that was just right for me. Painting faces. It felt so natural to smooth my brush down the contours of her face and catch the highlights in her eyes.  

For all that I love to try new subjects and new mediums I will always come back to my watercolors and an expressive face.

They feel like home to me. :)

Huzzah. :)




17 comments:

  1. Crystal, you paint amazing faces of all creatures! One of my sons-in-law is a large animal vet in Payson, UT, and he says a body is a body since they all function in a similar fashion. So the same is with faces - you do a wonderful job in capturing the spirit behind the face whether the subject has two or four legs!

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  2. And well they should, you have a wonderful gift for it as this expressive face clearly shows. Congrats on the sale!

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  3. This is a beautiful painting, Crystal. Love it!

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  4. You understand Martha - you realise that she is not the sort of girl to come out of her kennel without her eye make-up on. I had one like her, Mitzi, for 15 years , never saw her without her eye-liner on.

    Wonderful painting, Crystal.

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  5. Well what can I say? That face just melts my heart! And those gentle hues in the coat are just gorgeous! You are absolutely meant for this, there is no doubt! That said, I am waiting for the snake! I doubt even you could make one of those look adorable, lol! ;0)

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  6. Martha looks so big and loveable. Beautiful painting, Crystal.

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  7. You did an incredible job with Martha!! She looks like she's going to walk off the canvas! She's beautiful... So realistic! Watercolors is definitely YOUR medium!!!

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  8. Her face is so simple, her eyes so deep and wonderful! Great job, Crystal! Double HUZZAHS!!

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  9. Beautiful portrait of Martha, love labs.

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  10. Gorgeous!
    You have a natural affinity with faces, giving them such expression! I could lose myself in those eyes. xx

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  11. Little Martha. The most beautiful dog in the world. :) This is so lovely, Crystal. Those eyes just make me want to melt.

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  12. Being the proud owner of Martha and this amazing painting-let me say that Crystal captured her perfectly. We are so so happy!

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  13. Reading the replies to this post made me puzzled -- a lot of people who are posting replies to this post seems to know the subject intimately. Then it dawned on me -- this may be a commission! Get a commission done to the perfect happiness of the client is hard!!!!!! Hats off to you crystal!

    I have a question that's on the technical side -- the very dark tones around his eyes seem to have diffused edges. Did you put down the color then soften the edge, or did you wet a small area around the edge then dropped in thick pigments for this? What brush do you use for details Like this? And for these small paintings what paper do you use?

    Thanks again for sharing such a beautiful painting here!

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  14. It should feel like home, you do it like no one else:)) Such a beautiful painting! Your work is amazing!!!!

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  15. Oh how she looks at you with those kind eyes. Crystal, I wish you stay at home all the time. :)

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  16. So glad you come back to watercolors and faces -- they are treats for us :)

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  17. You make me want to HUG this DOG!!! My cat would be very jealous,,, but this face....I want a Lab now.

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Thanks so much for taking the time to leave a comment they really do mean so much to me! Because not all bloggers have their email enabled so I can reply directly through email I will try to reply here in the comments. If I don't please forgive me, life must have been hectic that day! :)) Huzzah!!

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