Mum.

I worked from an image on the computer, something I try to avoid but I wanted to paint and I wanted to try out my new approach on a photo. The initial drawing was made with a thinned down mixture of ultramarine and alizarin. I like the way it dries quickly and looks good when it's scumbled over later. At this stage I keep as it as loose as possible looking for abstract shapes and doing a lot of rubbing back. It's hard to control the amount of spirit used, too much and it lifts off whats already there.
I start drawing more accurately now, still not bothering too much about a likeness and still able to rub back and change. I like the marks but most of them will be lost as the painting develops.

Now I start to block in the lighter areas using a cool mix of titanium white, lemon yellow, cerulean blue and cadmium red.

I start adding warmer mixes to the light areas using the same colours as above but varying the amounts. I also make a darker mix for areas of the hair and add white to it to do the grey bits.

This is the last stage for today. I am adding patches of warm and cool mixtures tying to get the relationships right. I like the fact that I can still see some of the original drawing and want to retain it when I come back to carry on with the next stage. I am quite pleased with the result so far as it has a nice painterly feel to it and is not too detailed, something I want to avoid at the next stage.