Practicing the Figure with Watercolor

Watercolour is a medium I must admit I rarely use, but I was inspired to try wielding its free spirit with the human form for the first time this week.. 

I am still getting a handle of what hues work best together and the spontaneous quick flash of the brush that brings the best qualities of watercolour to life..

I knew I wanted to be colourfully creative with the hues used in the flesh tones, though not so much as to result in a gaudy mess..

Size: 5.8 in x 4.7 in

 The first attempt above was a palette of  Winsor & Newton:

Permanent Rose

Cerulean Blue

Burnt Umber

New Gamboge Yellow

Phthalo Blue

Found this pallet a little too Disney/Little Mermaid like, for my taste though, and experimented a little more, the results of which are to horrendous to share here...

The third attempt (below) comes a lot closer to what I am trying to achieve..

Size: 5.8 in x 5.8 in
Purchase at Watercolour Figure 3 at my Artfinder gallery

This one used a Winsor & Newton pallet of:

Permanent Alizarin Crimsom

Sap Green

Burnt Umber

Cerulean Blue

Ultramarine Blue

New Gamboge Yellow

All these pieces have just been using 150lb paper (though still with archival quality) to alleviate the pressure of wasting materials with these initial ham fisted experiments, but I can't wait to try these figures out on some lovely textured heavyweight watercolour paper soon!.. 

Will be sure to post the results of those too!.. Tra la folks, and thanks for the visit!...