24 Watercolor artist | APRIL 2019
the smoke from the incense burner. I photographed him from a couple of
steps below, looking upward at him to enhance the mysterious feeling.”
Some of the subjects and designs in Whyte’s paintings are painted
largely from memory and imagination. “Twirl [below] is of a young girl
who has modeled for me many times,” says Whyte. “We used to sit
together with her cousin and grandmother in church. Whenever I
arrived, she’d come fl ying across the pavement with these fantastic
little dresses that would fl ounce out around her. I didn’t think I could
get that action in photos, so I composed and painted it completely out
of my head [see Twirl thumbnail, at left]. I realized that it wasn’t
important to show all of her hands or legs; instead, I focused intently
on her movement.”Twirl (watercolor on paper, 18½ x18½)Twirl (thumbnail)