Watercolor Portrait – Musician – Daimon Price

I have been working on some portraits in preparation for the May exhibition at the Twisted Olive in Bethlehem, PA.

I’m excited to be able to finally show you this watercolor portrait of musician  and a former student, Daimon Price! A singer/songwriter from the Lehigh Valley, PA, Daimon is currently the lead singer, songwriter, and acoustic guitarist in the group known as THE PRICE IS RICE.

Daimon began playing acoustic guitar and writing music in 1995, after 15 years of playing drums. In my early years of teaching music at Northern Lehigh High School, Daimon  was a drummer in the band, and also sang in the choir. I remember working with him, a rookie singer, training his voice and his ear. At that time his vocal range was so small, I think at one point early on he was able to sing only one pitch. But he never gave up, and gradually his range expanded, and look what he can do now!

In the past 3 years, Daimon has appeared with his band on WFMZ Music Monday (7-1-2013), been featured in the Morning Call’s “Band of the Week,” and received 3 nominations for the Lehigh Valley Music Awards 15, and 5 nominations for LVMA 16. He also appeared on the main stage at Penn’s Peak for the 2015 Dream Come True Telethon.

I’m proud of Daimon and what he has achieved – he is a husband, father, teacher, and successful musician. I love keeping up with him on Facebook, and look forward to seeing him perform!

Daimon’s portrait will hang at the Twisted Olive in Bethlehem, PA during the month of May.

Thanks for visiting!

Step by Step Process

• Wet the head, body, and guitar with water and allow to soak in a bit. While still damp, drop in Winsor Lemon, watery consistency. Allow to dry.
• Mask areas of the beard and mustache with masking fluid and allow to dry.
• Skin tones – dampen the face – avoid the highlights and the eyes – drop in a watery mix of Yellow Ochre and Permanent Rose.
• Cut thin strips of masking tape and cover each guitar fret horizontally, and also each guitar string vertically. Dampen the guitar and drop in Yellow Ochre, creamy consistency, allow to dry.

• Dampen the guitar neck again and drop in areas of Burnt Burnt Sienna (rust color) and Burnt Umber (dark brown). Allow to dry. Repeat again with more Burnt Umber. When dry, remove the tape to reveal the frets and the strings. Late in the process I will gently lay in a watery brown over the entire guitar neck. I covered part of the neck with tape in order to start working on the head.
• Some strands of hair are masked out. Dampen the hair and drop in watery browns consisting of a mix of Yellow Ochre, Burnt Sienna, and Burnt Umber. Allow to dry.
• Dampen the face and lay in another mix of the skin tones (Yellow Ochre/Permanent Rose), working around the lightest areas.
• Dampen the body of the guitar and drop in Yellow Ochre, creamy consistency.

• Now it’s time to work on the eyes and lips. Dampen the eye and drop in a watery grey mix of Ultramarine Blue and Burnt Umber. This goes over the entire eye, even the white part. When dry, use that same grey mix to strengthen the iris, put in the pupil, and to later insert the details.
• Dampen the teeth and drop in watery Yellow Ochre. The lips are different values of the skin tone – Yellow Ochre/Permanent Rose. The eyebrows are varyied values of Burnt Sienna and Burnt Umber. At this point I kept thinking that he looked a lot like John Lennon!

• I enjoyed creating the textured look of the body of the guitar. I dampened the body and carefully put in the designs using a mix of Burnt Sienna/Burnt Umber. When dry, I went over the entire body with watery Burnt Sienna, and then went back and strengthened the designs.
• The final details – eyelashes, shadows, balancing skin tones – were created using mostly dry brush and small areas of thin layers of paint. Before working on the final details, I turned the painting around to face the wall for about a week. It always helps to put it away for a while and then look at it again with fresh eyes!
• I want to thank Daimon for giving me permission to create this painting – it was so much fun!