Tardy with the posts yet again, my apologies. Since returning from the East Coast, I’ve been at it full steam, and haven’t really come up for much air. Right now though, I’m nursing a bruised/cracked rib and a really bad cold (horrible combination), so I’m taking a sick day.

I’ve never really been very good at working on more than one piece at time, but I think I’m finally getting the hang of it. I have 4 in various stages of completion now, and instead of stressing me out and being distracting, I’m really enjoying it.

For those that have followed the Step-by-Step posts i’ve done, you’ll know that I have a habit of always starting paintings with the face, prior to any background work. I’ve also commented quite a bit on how this makes it hard to find where my values actually are, and makes me rely pretty heavily on glazing. I’m not sure how much difference another method would make, but it’s taken me this long to try and remedy that with this piece (at left). I knew in advance what the background will look like and because it will be dark, I tinted the canvas only where the figure will be, then painted the rest with black acrylic. This (at left) is about 4 hours in, and so far, I think it’s coming along ok. I’ll still need to glaze a bit to push things were they need to be, but I think the values are a little more accurate this early in the piece.

I’m also constantly experimenting with a new pallet these days, and finally becoming more comfortable with cool colors in my flesh tones. here’s the setup for my last piece, if anybody would like a full breakdown, just leave it in the comments and I’ll be happy to provide details.