Progress Report

After playgroup, laundry, lunch, and several changes of clothes, I finally put my girls down for a nap and had a couple of hours to myself to work on my painting. When I paint, I get the munchies like nothing else. I can't think of anything but eating. It doesn't matter how much I've already eaten or if I am even hungry, I just want to munch on something. The problem is, when I munch on something while I work, I don't get much painting done. So I have learned how to deal with my munching problem. Solution: GUM.

I am ashamed to admit that I am a chomper. I am one of those people that you don't want in the cubicle next to you because all the lip smacking and chomping is yours for the hearing. I chew gum like it's going out of style. My husband complains about how much gum we go through. But gum is inexpensive, it satisfies my need to chew on something while I work, and it keeps me focused on the job at hand.

Speaking of the job at hand, once I popped in a piece of gum, I got right to work on my golfer portrait. I decided to switch my yellow back to ochre for this portrait. I was using Cadmium Yellow Medium for my Joseph Smith project and I don't feel like it gave me the flesh tones that I really wanted. Ochre is a little darker, a little richer, and better for capturing skin tones.

I always paint the shadows first, then work my way into the lights. I got to this point of the painting when my kids woke up from their nap. I am very happy with the flesh tones in my shadows so far. When I go back to fix my Joseph Smith painting, I will have to remember to use Yellow Ochre instead of Cadmium Yellow Medium. It has made a BIG difference.