Final Version?

I have been fussing with this portrait for the last two days and finally think I have it the way I want it. I'm not sure it is any better than it was after the first day--just different. It looks more like me now, but has lost some of its drama. It also grew bigger. It was already bigger than life, but now it is even more so. The canvas is 16x2o, and it fills up the whole thing. I once knew a portrait painter who said you should never make a face bigger than 3/4 life size. I think it's probably a good idea, but I break that rule most of the time. I'm not sure why. It's not intentional. I just forget to think about it. I'm looking at the picture as I type.........man does that barrette look real!

The original painting was in acrylic, and now the finished product is in water-based oil. I changed mainly because I didn't think I had enough ultramarine blue paint left in acrylic to work on it much more. Every time I use the oil, though, I really like it. There is a quality about it that is quite different from acrylic in that you can blend on the canvas indefinitely. It doesn't dry the way acrylic does. On the other hand, that is also its drawback. After a few layers of paint it all starts to mix together and you can't paint over what you've done. Changing things then becomes a big problem. Well, they each have their own advantages. It's a question I ponder uselessly over and over. Which do I like better? As if I had to decide.

So far my appetite has not changed at all with the pills I'm taking. Of dourse it's only two days, but I thought that at least the placebo effect would kick in right away. This morning I weighed more than I have in weeks after eating dinner with Elizabeth and Dominic last night. We had steak, potatoes, salad, and brownies. Where could I skimp? Maybe I'll have better like next week.