Cosette

Well, this is my first watercolour painting attempt since <da:thumb id="330301290"> and <da:thumb id="328368032">, which were done in 2012. I have to admit, I wasn't particularly pleased with my results with these pieces at the time and I thought I ought to give the medium a rest for a little while.

Then I saw the iconic picture of Cosette and I thought, 'This would be brilliant as a watercolour!'. I gave it my best shot - I'm not sure if it really looks like Cosette. I should probably practice with watercolour a bit more often if I expect to get any good at it I wasn't sure where to start - I masked some of the hair and did the background first because I find when you put the mask on top of paint that has already been laid it tends to make it paler. Professional watercolour artists, any opinions, techniques and advice you can offer?

As you can see I failed with the hair. Hair will be the death of me. I can't handle that detail! I also, couldn't quite get that shade of blond right when I was mixing my colours. Any ideas what colours I should have mixed for hair?


Constructive criticism please!