this went ok

I felt reasonably in control throughout, although I waffled around on skin color
too much. I think I should be painting skin as a two or three value poster before
adding any detail or modeling. 12" x 16" - 3 hrs.

half done

I slowed down because this will be a two session pose. I've started using
flesh ochre instead of burnt sienna for the main skin tone. It's more mid-value
and redder, and makes for more gentle variations. It will be fun to try to
refine this portrait in a couple of weeks. 12" x 12" - 3 hrs.

no charcoal

I switched from sketching in charcoal to directly painting the basic
composition with an egbert brush. It's a great brush shape for gestures
and seems to help me work out overall placement. 12" x 16" - 3 hrs.

rushed

I took my time with drawing and had to rush the painting to finish in three hours.
Used cerulean as the shadow blue which makes a much softer skin tone than
ultramarine. Last thing I worked on was the hand which was looking dangerously
like a claw right up to the end! 12" x 14"

Somewhat Relaxed, 4/29/2016

Skin tone is burnt sienna and alizarin crimson , no ochre.  Was struggling
with shadow tones - at the last minute pulled some purple from the background
into the shadows of her left arm. 12" x 16" - 3 hours.

Relaxing, 4/17/2016

I'm really happy with how this three hour painting turned out! It's the first time
I've felt I had a grip on a workable portrait technique: 1) very quick charcoal sketch
2) quick thin monochrome to place the form 3) thin local color plus shadow with no
painting medium, just scrubbed in  4) last 1.5 hours modeling volume from a base tone
mix using plenty of medium.

Step 3) was new and gave plenty of grip so I could dab in two or three value layers in
nice gloppy paint! Three hours means strictly first thought best thought! 12" x 14.5"

Portrait, 4/15/2016

I didn't realize I was painting such a sad expression! Obviously, I'm still
struggling with skin tones. I'm using a penlight led now, so at least I can see
what I'm doing. I think the problem is I'm mixing for one area at a time,
which is ok up close but comes off blotchy as an overall image. So next I'll
try a traditional approach of starting skin mixes from a single, mid-value
tinted red oxide base. 12" x 16" - 3 hrs.