Recent Portrait

Finally! I'm just about to bite the bullet and call this one done. I've been messing with this thing on and off since last fall and I believe its about as good as I can get it.... for now. I started this portriat after first hearing about the "Zorn Palette" on Facebook. (Yes I only recently heard about this thing.) After using a palette consisting of white, ochre, red, and black I can't believe I hadn't heard of this earlier. I believe this is how everyone should learn how to mix flesh tones, especially for anyone just starting out. I've been focusing on working with a limited palette for a few years now and I have to say I found this palette great to work with. Like a lot of artists my medium of choice was a pencil, pretty much because that a pencil and paper is cheap and that's what was available. It wasn't until I got to college that I learned that there were harder and softer pencils that could offer varying degrees of darkness, and oh there's also this stuff called charcoal....ok so I've come a long way in that respect. However once I discovered oil paint I spent years destroying decent drawings with bad painting. I just didn't have the knowledge and vocabulary with color and paint application as I did with a pencil. I still think I can pump out a more refined drawing than I can paint but hey that's just part of what keeps me trying to constantly improve.

This is a 16x20 Oil on Canvas, I'm just calling it Kerri for now.