The Scullery Maid's Portrrait

 I'm planning to spend some time and effort on improving my watercolor skills.  I'll be doing small pieces, and for the first one I chose to do a portrait of a little felted animal that I made then dressed using vintage fabrics.

It may have been a bit unusual to use a needle felted animal as a model but it worked well.  So many times I've heard how much better it is to work from "life" rather than from photos and that's what I did with this one.  It did indeed seem different to be working from a 3D subject and, in a way, easier.

Pretty much as soon as I began painting I felt that I had ruined the piece.  It was then that one of the main features of watercolor - no forgiveness! - came home to me!  I forgot to bring the rabbit with me so I was painting from memory.  I started on the head scarf and part way through remembered that her scarf is white with blue plaid rather than the other way around - the way I painted it. 

But in the end, I think it worked out fine.  Given the light background, the scarf shows up better being blue.

Despite the shaky beginning, I found that I really enjoyed working with watercolor!

My plan is to make prints with my new famcy pigment ink printer and offer them in my Etsy shop.