I’ve noticed that I’m painting a lot of portraits of women with lots of hair. And less men with beards.
Here’s a woman with fabulous braids from December 2024—a fairgoer from Earth’s World was my reference.
I was sketching in brush pen and Schmincke Watercolor on a page in a Strathmore 500 Series Mixed Media Journal. (This was a hardcover, large journal.)
Hair, like beards and fur is of course just more texture for me. I selected this reference because the woman has such great features, strong, compelling—such a wonderful stare. I loved being able to play with the reds and orange in her skintones. And her braids allowed me to play with the idea of detail without rendering detail. She’s part of the reason I started looking at more women references and ended up looking at vintage photos of women with piled up hair.
Our mind’s attention gets caught and then we need to follow that attention to discover what is there for us. I’m not saying I’m giving up on beards, or fur on dogs, or feathers on birds, but I am saying I expect to spend a lot of time looking at hair.
