In the portrait class we are moving into limited color starting next week. Here's my demo piece, a value study, painted thinly since it's an underpainting. I was working from a sketch I did of Sophie last year. I used Gamblin's Asphaltum and my Titanium white warmed with a smidge of cad yellow light (I have this premixed in a tube--I bought a pint size can of white paint because it's cheaper, and found I far prefer using tubes. I had some empty tubes, so I filled them). Next Monday I'll demonstrate how to proceed into limited color on top of this painting. Sometimes I find that I like the value study so much that I don't want to do anything more to it. There's such a simplicity to a good value study--it's easy on the eyes. However, as a learning tool, it's a good exercise to establish values first and then add color while conforming to the already-established values. As Richard Schmid says, "Value does all the work, and color gets all the credit."
Here's the sketch.
In the portrait class we are moving into limited color starting next week. Here's my demo piece, a value study, painted thinly since it's an underpainting. I was working from a sketch I did of Sophie last year. I used Gamblin's Asphaltum and my Titanium white warmed with a smidge of cad yellow light (I have this premixed in a tube--I bought a pint size can of white paint because it's cheaper, and found I far prefer using tubes. I had some empty tubes, so I filled them). Next Monday I'll demonstrate how to proceed into limited color on top of this painting. Sometimes I find that I like the value study so much that I don't want to do anything more to it. There's such a simplicity to a good value study--it's easy on the eyes. However, as a learning tool, it's a good exercise to establish values first and then add color while conforming to the already-established values. As Richard Schmid says, "Value does all the work, and color gets all the credit." 
Here's the sketch.
