Portrait painting using watercolour

in 1995, I had an exhibition of portraits in Brittany, France.      The portraits were of people I had painted in the United States, Wales, England and France.

I was asked by the Gallery to give watercolour demonstrations during the month of the exhibition.    Given that it was based on portraiture, I decided to ask some of some of the local people to sit for me.

Although I had painted water colour portraits over the previous years, this proved to be the beginning of my painting spontaneous watercolour portraits wherever I travelled.      I quickly realised that using the spontaneity of watercolour, I could capture the essence of my subject in about thirty minutes or less. 

I painted this large portrait of Caroline, when giving a painting demonstration in Le Pecq, Paris some years after the exhibition in Brittany.

In this instance, I am painting the portrait on an already prepared cadmium orange ground.

I am using juicy watercolours from tubes – and as is always the case with my portraits of humans or animals, I draw with my brush and begin with the eyes. 

Caroline was a wonderfully colourful and dramatic subject….

I am feeling the urge to get on the road again and paint more portraits:)

A Bientôt

subjects with a sense of immediacy and 

Returning home to UK/Europe.

I returned to the UK/Europe in the spring of 1993.    For the first six months, I lived with my cousin and family in Crickhowell, Wales – or as I call it The Magical Town of Crickadoon.

Set in the beautiful Usk Valley, where the Black Mountains and Brecon Beacons meet, just twenty miles from Hereford and the  English boarder, it is indeed an area of outstanding natural beauty.

I made a home there for 12 years until I moved to London in 2005 – the place if my birth.

In this photograph, taken right after I moved to Wales, I am with my two cousins, Lynn and Mike.

After returning I contacted a relative, Care Weight, who was  a well known English artist and had been professor of painting at the Royal College of art.

In 1997, Carel died aged 89.     This image shows the programme given out at a wonderful tribute to his life, held at the Royal Academy, which I attended.     The painting is Carel’s tribute to Turner as he soars to heaven.

From 1973 until I returned to the UK in 1993′ I had painted under my married name, ‘Reed’.          Carel and I both agreed that it was time to paint using my maiden name,  ‘Weight’.     Hence my signature…Janet Weight Reed.

Once again proof of the interconnectedness of life.     Shortly after moving to London in 2005′ I gave my first workshop for The Fulham/Hammersmith Arts Society, also known as SOFAP.

This photograph was taken at that workshop when I was giving a portrait painting demonstration.

Ironically, it turned out that Carel Weight was one of the founders of the Association back in the fifties!

Tomorrow I am giving another workshop for the same group and then staying with a good friend, which means I will be back on line Monday 27th

Have a lovely weekend.

A bientot