I will say without reservation that this piece has given me a headache or two. The leaves have gotten gradually easier and more enjoyable to do, but the most challenging aspect has been the facial subtlety, diffused light and busy background.


You'll notice the face has changed a little (actually a lot!) I feel like I'm oversteering while driving a car; so subtle are the changes in light and structure of the face that it is easy to overpaint or underpaint it. The change in lighting in the studio is also heavily affecting the way the face appears...one day you see freckles, other days you don't...*holds head in hands*


Because the light is diffused by all those encroaching leaves, there's no strong light and dark, to combat the undesirable uniform tonality, I must darken the background sufficiently enough to push the model and foreground foliage forward, but no so much as to blacken to leaves out to an indistinguishable mass. This will also help to simply the background a bit and reduce the level of 'busyness' that could negatively the picture as a whole (ya know, like a cheese grater on the eyes...or a Father's Day tie!)

Ultimately, there's still much to be done here, blouse, face, arms, fingers, leaves, hair....yeah, everything. Hopefully, this will be done on my next post!