Best Buddies

What a delightful piece, Thea. Your delicate washes work so well here to create that vulnerability and childlike innocence so vital to child portraits. And the affection between Noah and Tabitha is very evident and so well captured in the painting. A family heirloom to be treasured indeed!

Thank you very much, Seok. They are both such different characters - Noah gentle and unworldly and Tabitha totally switched on and organised, but they both love each other to bits. They have their odd sibling spats but the deep down feeling is one of close connection - lovely to see.

You know my feelings on this piece Thea, so I'll limit my comment to reiterating how wonderfully cohesive and coherent it is in both painterly and affective terms.

Super, happy painting Thea, your best yet!

Thank you very much Louise and Kim - your approval means a lot to me. Also special thanks to Kim for his continued support and good advice - really helps me to try and progress.

Nice work Thea. I tried many times to do a porttrait of my deceased dad and never was satisifed with it. I always put it down to the fact that I knew his face too well.

hi so sweet beautiful work xx

Delightful portraits, Thea, you make your paintings look effortless but I'm sure you put a lot of work into them. This has a lovely gentle 30's 40's look to it. Smashing work.

Delightful Thea.

Thank you very much Derek, Paula, CA (sorry - don't know your first name) and Michael - you are all very kind.

Another lovely painting for the family album Thea!

It's great Thea. I have been contemplating trying a watercolour of our new grandson for ages but can't drum up the confidence to start it. Seeing this has inspired me on. Well done, the skin tones are very impressive and you have captured the lovely nature Noah and Tabitha perfectly.

Thank you so much Christine and Chris - your feedback means a lot to me. Chris - just go for it. If it is any help, I use cad red/yellow ochre for the basic skin tone, sometimes with a tiny touch of alizarin to warm it up. I find it works for baby and child skins as they are delicate and have to be fresh. I stay away from greens (although many people use them) as I find it gives a child a rather unhealthy pallor.

Lovely delicate, light touch, and so well done to capture both equally.

Wow, Thea, this is super! One portrait is so difficult, what it means to do two on the same sheet of paper..... I can hardly imagine the stress you must have had!!!

Thank you very much Lesley and Mia for such nice comments. Mia, I would love to tell you that I just dashed this one off but nothing could be further from the truth. I actually sweated blood over it, mainly because I had been asked to do it and I felt under pressure to deliver. I did one child's face and then had a right wobble about starting the other one in case I messed it up and then all the work up to that point would be wasted. I'll stick to single portraits in future - better for my blood pressure!

Lovely delicate washes suit the subject perfectly Thea. Beautiful work.

It's all been said. Superb. You can tell they are close siblings; you have captured that beautifully.

Thank you so much Frank and Gudrun for your lovely comments - much appreciated.

Such soft delicate work with watercolour. A medium that isn't always that forgiving and easy to correct mistakes. Well done!

Love this one Thea, your paintings are so delicate.

Found it at last! Lovely delicate double portrait, which are so difficult to do but which you've achieved with what seems like ease!

Thank you, Paul, Karyl and Debs for your encouragement and nice comments. Debs, 'with ease' - if only you knew!!! I am glad it comes over like that but I have to admit it is all smoke and mirrors as I found this one very difficult.

Simply beautiful Thea, the eyes say it all.

Thanks, Val, really nice of you to leave such a lovely comment.

awww they are gorgeous :-)