For-fun ACEO paintings

I'm really enjoying the freedom of being able to paint whenever I feel like it (rather than having the pressure of painting at least one complete painting every day - even if it was self-imposed). I've started several pieces, soon to be finished. Because I hate to waste good paper, I filled the "gaps" with some ACEO paintings.

Hamari woman from Ethiopia - they coat strands of their hair in red clay mixed with oil, and coat their foreheads in the same mixture. 

Young woman wearing a tie-died dress. You may notice that I only initialed these paintings, rather than signing and dating them. I'll sign and date them on the back.

I started these two little paintings in my watercolor class last week. Seeing my very exact method of previous paintings the instructor challenged me to let the colors mix on the wet paper instead of pre-mixing them on the pallet. It was a little scary to be painting pure Venetian red and pure magenta and pure indigo paint into the faces of these women, and letting them mix into shades of brown there. Overall I am very pleased with the effect though! The instructor also challenged me to make the background more interesting by adding some of the colors from the foreground. I may have overdone it a little in the painting of the Hamari woman - but with practice it will get better.

Keep in mind that these paintings are only 2.5"x3.5"...