Portrait of young girl

Today in Diane Mannion's class, we did portraits.  Of course I was late.  I'm always late...but I made it to class.  Goal number one achieved!  

When I entered the class, the teacher was giving a portrait demo of a student who decided to pose.  I've done these kind of demos before so I didn't really miss anything.  What I like about Diane is she is so sharing of her knowledge.  I was taught a few different ways to approach a portrait in oils, but one thing I like about Diane is her choice of colors.  She simplifies things.  She was generous enough to give us different palette choices.  And I was looking for something new...NEW....and she came through for me.  

Class is from 9 am to noon.  I got there at 9:30, and she was giving the demo to about 10 am.  Then she brought out some sample faces from magazines.  A few struck my eye so I picked them up.  The one above being one of them.  What struck me was the lack of color, (but yet, still a hint of color), and her expression.  I liked her innocence.  

I mostly used ivory black and titanium white, but the eyes looked flat and lifeless, so I added in some ultramarine blue, and something told me I needed some more color...so I added some burnt sienna in the hair and in the sweater's turtleneck.  But it still looked dull, so I combined the burnt sienna and the ultramarine blue (which when combined can appear to be as dark as black, a beautiful black I may add.)  

I like the result.  It's not done by any margin, but for about two hours work, I'm pleased with the result.  

I may do her again, but larger and with more color, or perhaps add a ribbon in her braided hair...or show the braid more...perhaps add some blush, like an old time photo that has been tinted.  Don't know, but I do want to paint her again.  If I change it up enough, I can enter her in a show, but for right now, nope, I can't, it's too much like another artist's work, but if I change it up so it's very different from the original, fine...

Like it?  I do, that's all that matters...and I'm painting...I'm producing, and I will continue.