I am almost done with my new painting – a portrait, with just a few finishing touches needed. I used a combination of palette knife and brush. Although I’ve used this mix before, I’ve never done it on a portrait. I used my photo for the pose, and a vague idea of the mood of the subject. Then, I just let the image develop over time.

I don’t like painting wet on wet because it muddies the colors, so I wait until it dries, then paint some more. The palette knife allows me to be more free with my strokes and has even infected my use of the paint brush. The results are very encouraging. The image below has already undergone some changes on the eyes and the background but you can see that the brush strokes are more obvious here than in my other pieces. The title I have for this is “Worries”.