I have painted a girl in a dark room, suggesting that she is sheltering from the dangers in her outside world, but I wanted to show hope with a ray of strong light falling onto her face. The light symbolizes her faith, as well as the inner power that resides within all people to help them in difficult times.

I used only transparent watercolor paints and a little bit of masking fluid for the highlights. The work was completed in 2 steps. First I painted wet on wet. The paper was completely moist from both sides. I made the first layer with major color relationships. Then after drying, I fixed the paper on a board. I continued with wet on dry approach, trying to take the tone in full strength. Special attention was paid to the face of the girl and her gesture. I also felt it was important to keep very sharp contrasts and exaggerate the light areas.

步驟1.  After completing the drawing in outlines, I applied masking fluid in small areas to protect the highlights. Then I wet the sheet of paper from both sides and did the underpainting in rather bright colors, keeping them in balance and avoiding painting the lightest areas. I dried the lightest areas on face and body with a paper towel and then I wet all over again with plain water, avoiding the lightest areas. For the first layer, I used 生赭石, 漢莎黃燈, 吡咯橙 和 吡咯猩紅 for the warm areas, and added into it some 群青 和 月光. The cool areas are started with a thin wash of Sienna and then a stronger wash of 鈷藍色 and Ultramarine Blue, wet on wet.

第 2 步。  I added the mid tones, balancing warm and cool shades. Here I also added some of the dark contrasts and checked the tonal range. I continued with the background, adding darker tones with thin wash of 虎眼石 正品 and a much darker application of 焦赭石. I also painted the shaded areas on the hands of the model. For the skin tone, I mixed 生赭石 和 群青玫瑰 as a major mixture that I shifted to warm or cool temperature by adding more Raw Sienna, 黃赭石, 吡咯紅 (to warm) or Ultramarine Blue/綠藍 (to cool). At this stage, I added darker contrasts in the hair and on the neck.

步驟3.  I worked in full tonal strength on the focal area – the face and hands of the girl. I partly removed the masking fluid and adjusted the highlights.

步驟4.  I completed the painting with the dark background, uniting and balancing all parts. The background should help to enhance the focal point and figure. Then I removed the rest of the masking fluid and considered whether I should adjust something. Often the highlights require some adjustment.