New Class: Portraits

Last night I started a new class working with portraits.  The face is my favorite thing to paint.  I have only really attempted one portrait, and I was not satisfied with the over modeled nature of my poor accomplishment.  One artist, Lance Richlin, indicates that an artist will become more confident after working on 60 heads (about 5 hours each to achieve a strong realistic image).  I obviously have much work ahead of me.  With this in mind, I signed up for a course with John Kilroy in Rockland.  I admire the expression, movement, color, and skill in his work.  I painted this in three hours:

Obviously, it isn't a finished product, but I learned much about values and procedure already after only one night!