#313 A Portrait Mood #1

I get into a figurative mood every once in a while and even more rare is a portrait mood . . . but I find myself in the throws of one now. I like to look at other painters (living and dead) and see what they are and were working on and I came across some old portrait studies by some French painters in the more 'academic' tradition. They had the underpainting showing in the finished pieces and I decided to play around with that idea on this piece and a few that will follow it. Laying in a drawing, brushing over the whole thing with Burnt Umber was, pulling the lights out with turp, and then building on top of this value study leaving the echo of the initial stages in the background.