I chose a slightly different approach with this piece. I am using water mixable oils, mostly for convenience purposes as I don't have the facilities for the chemicals/smells involved with traditional oils. These still are technically oil colors they just have an additional option. The previous study was done with just water. The paint was hard for me to manipulate and control.
Then I remembered that I have oil painting mediums that can make my life much easier. I dug them out a played a little bit. and the results were dramatically different. I also changed my approach. I did an acrylic underpainting in umber which still shows through in some places. This is fine...it's only a study.
I tried to take progress pictures of each step. First there's the drawing. Some argue that pencil should not be used, perhaps charcoal or even paint but not pencil. I don't know their rationale for that and when I studied with a portrait painter in my youth I did everything in charcoal but these are tiny. I'll worry about archival issues when they arise.
The second step was the acrylic underpainting to help me establish the lights and darks. The third step is when white is added to the piece. I was taught to fill in the the piece with the middle tone and background first but this was tiny so I figured altering my usual approach couldn't hurt.
The fourth piece shows the final results. It's much smoother and more refined than the other piece as the oil painting medium gave me more control. Obviously I deviated a bit from the sketch but I have to do what "moves" me. It's only a study, after all so might as well play!
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