Tory, on the Easel

I have a queue of dog paintings that will keep me busy through the summer, so I’m taking a little break to get some human faces done.  Tory is 36 x 48″ and this is whipping up somewhat quickly — to my surprise.  I was in the studio over the weekend for hours, mostly putzing around with a series of  distractions which serve to keep me from ruining it (Which podcast should I listen to?  I think I’ll make tea. Should I rearrange the paintings on the walls?), but eventually I settled into it.  After a couple of hours, I got into the flow and just kept going, until I had painted the face.  I didn’t touch the mouth or the cap, just focused on mixing skin tone hues with siennas and umbers and blacks, and brushing it on.  (It’s not done, by any means –  but it’s almost there.) As I realized that I worked for a couple of hours before hitting my stride, it occurred to me that maybe this is how I work, but I just never saw it — that I have to work for a couple of hours before anything substantial gets done.  Good god, I hope not.