The second session

Oooooh! This week's portrait course went really well! Or at least, it felt as if it did - and isn't that half the battle? I made real progress on the painting and set myself up nicely for the third week. See how I got on below...

First break Here I wanted to build up a bit of darkness under the hair on the right side of the picture, and punch up the colours on the face to capture the sitter's rosy cheeks.

Second break Oddly, my tutor Ian suggested letting the hair colour drift almost to greens - it sounded counter-intuitive but I found that a mix that looked a toxic lime colour on the palette gave me a great base for the long blonde hair, taking the edge of the brown.

End of second session On previous portraits I had held back from dealing with the eyes until it was too late so I decided to mix a grey-ish colour for the white and then top that with a suggestion for the pupils - next week, when this has dried, I should be able to add the lids on top.