Last night I masked out the entire image and airbrushed the background with acrylics. I started with a dark gray and blue-purple over all, then added some black to the mixture for the lower third. Next, I used a transparent black to shadow beneath the bed and a hint of wall behind the bed (shadowing the frame onto it). I wanted the background dark, but I went a little further than I had anticipated. Hopefully it’ll still work out.
I once again foolishly thought I could handle painting a large area with paint and brush. I removed the masking from the bed and started painting a dark magenta over the comforter area. I managed to get the area blocked in solid, so I started the next layer, building up lighter color. The brush started streaking, and I could see no way to easily smooth and blend this. Before letting the frustration get the best of me, I re-applied the masking around the bed to protect the background, then took the paint mix, thinned it down, and used the airbrush to cover it. I think it produces a better texture for this material anyway, so I’m glad the brush didn’t work out (although I’d prefer to not even try it next time and just go directly to the airbrush). I built up soft highlights, adding gray, white and at the end some vermilion. This last color I also used for a streak of light across the background.
To finish the airbrushing, I used the transparent black again to create the shadows of the bed frame across the comforter…

Next step, I started the real paint work. Using a gray wash of gouache, I colored in the bed frame. I’ll use colored pencils later to add detail to it. Similarly, I used a cool gray wash for the pillows. Then I started in on the face. I painted the eyes and lips, then outlined all the skin edges with skin tone gouache (to aid in blending later). Last thing I got to tonight was blocking in the black areas of her bustier and panties…

I used flash for these photos, so there’s a little sheen to it. The final image will look better.