Mike Theuer, watercolor portraits from photos

      I live in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania U.S.A.
      I mostly do my artwork these days.  I create portraits.  I teach watercolor painting at the nearby Pennsylvania State University.  I also show my work in pencil, watercolor and oil paint at Galleries.  That is if I am not making dinner or a hamster cage.  While my wife works as middle-school counselor, I'm also the stay-at-home dad for my three boys!
      I'm not art trained.  I have a Bachelor's in English and a Master's in Psychology.  And before portraits, I was mainly a business owner.  As for my ability in art, I got great training from a great teacher in High School.  There I learned to use different media and aim my knack for details at capturing nature, painting my first portrait from a calendar photo.  Recently I've decided to try to to use watercolor to capture faces.  Since I'm new at it, we'll see in time how that goes!
      Though I am able to paint photographically (like the lighthouse painting in the link above) I do not want to make my paintings look like a photo.  I feel if I wanted a photo, I should use a camera.  Instead, I want to make them freer, becoming rougher toward the edges of the paper.  I want this on one hand because I like the look of the brush marks.  And I want it on the other hand for the challenge — painting freely yet accurately is harder.  The eyes would be the only exception.  I would try to make them look photographic.  I'd do this hoping they'd draw your attention.  To me the eyes are where the resemblance is.