practice helps

I'm starting to feel more comfortable with my materials, palette, and technique. 16" x 14" - 3 hours.

better process

So now I'm painting the first layer thinned with Galkyd and Turpentoid on three coats of 30% marble dust gesso. All this endless fussing around with underpainting materials has got me to a point where I can thinly paint, wipe out, re-position and shade a bit while I work out a composition and tonal plan. I'll have another session with this pose next week. 16" x 14" - 3 hours, so far.

As usual, more time isn't always better. Here it is after a second session:

back to the race

Right away, I realized I would have to work fast to get this done during the sitting. The model was leaning her head back, but I didn't really capture that, and instead just got a slightly weird skull shape. I think the problem is I'm starting from a line sketch instead of a volume sketch. I'll try switching to a really big brush for a pale liquin shape placement followed by some loose volume and edge delineation before I switch to painting color with linseed/stand oil/Gamsol medium. Paint control is going pretty well, although I'm going to try adding more marble dust to the gesso to get quicker absorption of the underpainting.  

But mainly, I'm wasting a lot of time making too many small, tentative paint mixtures. I'm spending an inordinate amount of time mixing colors I've already mixed a few times before..
16" x 14" - 3 hours.

easy pace

I seem to be getting less concerned about how far I get in a portrait session. This went well, but at the pace I was painting, I would have needed another hour to finish. 14" x 16" - 3 hours.

at the arboretum

First landscape I've painted this year. At first I was totally lost and foundering badly. I was painting with a group and felt bad about my ineptitude. Eventually the scene halfway sorted itself out. 9" x 12" - 2.5 hours.

subdued

I was feeling a little out of it today and really didn't care how far I got in the time I had. Probably helped the painting! Cropped to 12" x 14" - 3 hours.

softer brushes

Now that I've got the gesso thing sorted out, it dawned on me that the hog bristle brushes I've been using are too stiff and scratching through to the panel. So I switched to synthetic brushes and found I had much better control. 16" x 14" - 3 hours.