Study- Shading, Eskimo Baby...

Today I got a book on how to paint people. I saw it the other day when I was at Hobby Lobby, but it is really a water color book, and I planned to use acylics, so I got the basic acrylic book instead. But this seems to be what I really needed, so I think it will be okay. I want to learn how to shade stuff properly and have it look realistic. Need a true "how-to" book that goes step by step, and that is what this is.


The book is in the other room, so I don't know what this is called, but I think it is a baby a little over a year old; I am not sure what race she is. I think she looks like a little Eskimo baby. Only she looks like she has a sunburn. It looks a lot like the shading in the book, but not exactly. It turned out better than I thought it would. My two youngest children like it. It is nice to have someone so easily and enthusiastically impressed!

This was the first time I used the water color paper. It is not too bad. I liked the stretched canvas best, but it is the most expensive. I will have to wait until it goes back on sale and buy more. I think I would really like the 16 X 20". I read this quote on an artist's eBay listing today. It said something like, "If you can't paint it well, make it big. If you can't make it big, make it red." Lol, I liked that. Chris sent me a few links to other artists' sites and I got to look a little bit, but with dial up it is sooo slow. Chris also suggested I paint something I see in my imagination. I keep imagining this large woman dancing exuberantly in a RED dress- sort of a mumu, lol. I cannot see her face but I feel her movement and her joy. Maybe I will be able to paint her some day.