"gotta love my mom": next 30 minutes

detail of next steps

i only had about half and hour to paint yesterday morning before errands, etc. got in the way. basically i painted the *right* side of joan's face even though i was trying to make her eyes the correct size and shape i managed, nonetheless, to make the *right* one a little too "tall." she is actually squinting more than i depicted it here. i don't think it is enough to worry about and change. additionally, i think her eyes are a little too close together, but rather than erasing and lifting out the *left* (which i think is the offending one) i believe i can get away with increasing the distance from the bridge of her nose to the medial canthus of the *left* eye. this will give the illusion of more space without having to do too much fiddling. i used a #8 "faux kolinsky" brush i just got to try out mainly because real kolinsky brushes are still so expensive. this brush was about 1/7th the price of a real sable and i must say behaves very well. it holds lots of water, snaps to a sharp point with just a flick of the wrist, and is just stiff enough to give good control over the point. i am a fan at this time and will probably try more sizes as time goes on and brushes wear out and need replacing. the colors were my old stand-by cadmium red light, cadmium yellow pale, and cerulean blue in various proportions put on the paper singly and allowed to mingle with some manipulation of the brush. i still haven't decided on the color to use for joan's hair. the quinacridone gold isn't working very well, but i think that perhaps cerulean and one of the siennas or umbers, burnt or raw, might do the trick. her hair is a dark blonde turned kind of platinnum with age. our granddaughter sophie said once, " grandma, i like the color of your hair. its, like, the color of toilet paper." she didn't say whether that was right off the roll or used! i didn't ask. i may try experimenting on a spare sheet of paper (painting, not, you know, the other) before the next painting session. its a little unusual for me not to just barge in with a try right on the painting. maybe i am getting more cautious or smarter with old age..............naa. here is the view of the entire painting for reference.

full painting at this stage