Portrait: Nutmeg Man

01 05, 13 Filed in: Watercolor

While we were on vacation in Grenada, I saw an older man standing outside the Nutmeg factory deep in conversation. The sun was highlighting his face and chest, and I thought it would make an interesting subject for a portrait. David took a discrete reference photo from a distance as to not change the man's behavior.
I started this painting by pouring Dr Ph Martin's liquid watercolor in oranges and yellows on wet cold pressed watercolor paper. Some liquid watercolors of Sepia and Bluish Black were also added to the outer edges of the paper. Areas of the paper were left white to represent where I thought the shirt would go. This is done by not wetting these areas so that the poured watercolor did not run there.
After this initial layer of poured paint had dried, I drew my man lightly on the paper with pencil. I had to make adjustments to the position of the shirt and arms (from what was in my photo) to fit in with where the background paint had dried on my paper. I used regular tubed watercolor paints to negatively paint around the man, leaving the orange glow to represent the sun kissed areas of skin. Some areas of the shirt had gotten too dark from the original pouring, so I used Daniel Smiths Watercolor ground to bring those areas back to a white, which could then be tinted to pastel colors. I used smaller brushes to add the final details to his face, arms and hands.