David Sandlin in His Studio (work in progress, 20)

Step 20

I'm calling it done. I've gone back into the painting after a little hiatus. While I worked on another panel, I continued studying this one to see what bothered me most. Ultimately, I made a few minor adjustments to the eyes and mouth, I glazed across the floor with a pale limonite/zinc white mixture to soften the grain, and I added a couple of features of David's painting at the top right that I had initially left out because I thought they might make this painting a bit too busy in that corner. I never could find perfectly accurate colors in this digital reproduction. I hope some of you may have the opportunity to see the painting in real life someday. I don't know how I feel about working on the board's rough, knobby surface. I had to fight the gesso's texture often: washes of color pool in the hollows like water color does on cold-pressed paper and the bumpy terrain makes it a little difficult to draw fine, crisp lines. But, it did make for some interesting effects that don't occur on a perfectly smooth finish, and I'm using the same type of panel on the next painting. I'll post images of that one in progress (with minimal commentary.)