About face

Caroline Boudreaux’s vivid watercolors start a sketch, done over and over and over again. “Until I get it right,” adds the Thibodaux native.

Currently working as a graphic designer for the Baton Rouge design firm TILT, known for her expressive watercolor portraits, 225 asked her to create this month’s portrait of Derek Gordon, the late Arts Council CEO who died last year. See it here.

“I do try to plan it out as far as the colors go, but most of the time it ends up being not how I thought it would turn out at all,” Boudreaux says of her process, which begins with research on the subject and ends with a colorful impression of character traits.

The result is vibrant and cheerful, and the faces of her subjects—mostly human, but often pets, too—are emotive and detailed.

She started painting pets with a gift for a friend. Once she posted the final piece to Facebook, the requests came fast.

“Most of the things I do are on commission, but I’m slowly working toward doing more personal work,” Boudreaux says.

Check out her site, ilovecaroline.com, for more on her artwork.