The original photo for this painting was taken by a brilliant photographer friend of mine, Melissa Howard (see original here).
The challenge with a 3 color painting is to pick a limited palette- in this case1 red shade (it has been 5 years so I don’t remember what color it was, though possibly rose madder, the same goes for the yellow, though I suspect it was an ocre), 1 yellow shade, and a blue (in this case I chose payne’s gray which is a dark blue-gray.) Then do the painting only using those colors, and usually masking fluid.
Starting sketch.
Finished under drawing.
First step after drawing: masking fluid application to all white areas..
Yellow layer.
Red layer.
Payne’s Gray layer and removal of masking fluid.
Close up of eye.
Closeup.
Close-up of mouth.
Finished.