Polka Dots

This smart little girl came to my life unexpectedly. My online friend June posted a picture of her granddaughter and I was fascinated by this baby picture. Something was just telling me I need to paint this portrait. Her eyes, her face, her cute outfit! I could just imagine how the girl was just playing a few minutes ago and was asked by parents to sit and concentrate on something; and, yes she definitely did try doing that; but, look at her eyes: she is still thinking about the game. Her imagination is still working its way out. I think that kids' eyes are telling us a lot; it is like a Whole Universe is there; we just need to look into them and open a new beautiful World for ourselves.

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When I started painting this portrait I was very concerned about how I will paint her eyes (as it it a center point of the composition). The Polka Dots helped me tremendously! I started the painting them; got lost in the texture and relaxed a little. Later, when I moved to the face I still didn't paint eyes, I worked on the skin tones and made quite a few good washes (layer by layer) in order to achieve the baby skin feeling. I had so much fun! Yet the real fun came when I started mixing colors for the eyes. The tone of the eyes was different from the blue of the sweater. I intentionally made a sweater lighter than on the picture to contrast with Emerald Blueish Green of the eyes. The highlights on the eye lids and in the corner of the eyes help to make them very 3-dementional and be a real centerpiece of whole composition.

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I am so glad I had an opportunity to work on one more baby portrait. Each time I paint babies or kids I am realizing it is much different from the adults portraits; and, baby portraits definitely have their charm and cuteness :)

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8"x10" Watercolor on Arches 140 Cold Pressed Paper