Oil Painting lesson with Gregory Smith

Today, I started by making the background more solid. It's a mixture of Cad Red and Ivory Black. It gives a lovely body of paints. 

A cast is always a challenge. Greg gave me a great tip. A form is everything, and in order to get it right, we not only use tonal shifts but also a direction of brush strokes. 

Work in progress. 16x20 in.