Kat Powell Artist

This painting is my first attempt at a "transforming" painting. The idea I had was to paint a figure with the same steps I use when I draw the human figure. You can see in the video that I start with a rough outline for the skeleton figure. If you have ever taken a figure drawing course you know that in order to properly capture the human form you start with the skeleton and muscles underneath. It's like building a house. You need the frames then the drywall before you add the house paint. Anyways, after I paint the rough outline I fill in the skeleton, while keeping the light source in mind. Giving depth and highlights. Keep in mind the skeleton is rough because this is not a skeleton painting. So I don't care about the tight details and realism. This is just a phase. I then move on to the muscles. When I was in college my drawing professor had us learn all the muscles by name, and I knew them all....but then I got lazy and forgot most ...

If you've been following my work you know the Skellies are a common occurrence. I love drawing in scenarios that look like they came out of a storybook. I just having fantasy images that feel as if you walked into the room and see all the characters going about their own business. For this image I wanted to challenge myself with a complex watercolor painting that has foreground, mid-ground, and background. I wanted the stain glass, which is the background, to be a bit out of focus. And as the characters and items in the scene get closer to the foreground there are different levels of details. I keep the color palette a bit subdue, mostly oranges and blues. You can see in the video that I start with the background. This is not a necessary step for watercolor, but it's a habit I tend to have from doing acrylic and oil painting for years. (I start with the background so that way I can layer stuff on top of it and it stays as the background.)