Watercolor: Girl from Corfu

A few years ago, I attended a wonderful figure painting workshop with Charles Reid. Painting portraits and figures in watercolor has always been challenging (but fun) for me, and I love the way Charles keeps things un-fussy and gestural.  We spent afternoons with a variety of models, in 20-30 minute poses, chasing the essence of each figure, after watching Charles paint them with flourish and ease. This is a crop/close up (below) of a three figure demo he painted for us.

Art Quote
There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all of time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and it will be lost. The world will not have it. It is not your business to determine how good it is nor how valuable nor how it compares with other expressions. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open. You do not even have to believe in yourself or your work. You have to keep yourself open and aware to the urges that motivate you. Keep the channel open. … No artist is pleased. [There is] no satisfaction whatever at any time. There is only a queer divine dissatisfaction, a blessed unrest that keeps us marching and makes us more alive than the others.
~The Life & Work of Martha Graham, by Agnes DeMille