I started today painting the fence in the background using white acrylic. I wanted the fence to be forward of the colored background without pulling much attention. The camera’s flash enhanced the white to much brighter than it really looks (as will be seen in the final scan).
Next, I began work on the face, using gouache paint (except the tongue – I have a nice dull pink watercolor paint that suits that perfectly). Then I built up the hair with layers of browns and black. It still needs details, but it gets the idea across for now. After that I began painting the vest. The outer side (barely seen) I painted with a purplish gray gouache. The interior side I mixed a subdued pink (the pink I use, ‘opera’, is nearly florescent bright) gouache and covered it with a solid coat. I then used an old gouache technique I used to use, loading the brush with a color and mixing/blending it directly on the surface. For this area, I loaded black on the brush and started on the edge against the body, then blended it outward. I did the same with white, starting at the brightest highlight area and blending out. Both sides of the vest still need some white highlights, but that should be it for them.
Before ending my day, I blocked in the gloves with a dull ochre brown, and then added flesh gouache at all the edges where the skin will touch painted areas (and blocking in small areas, like her forearm, thigh and face, even though they’ll likely be covered later with the oil pastels)…