Oil Painting Portraits

THE PIZZA!
I doubt that I would have attempted portraits on my own. But in my class, we practiced various techniques inlcuding underpainting with Burnt Umber, then overpainting with transparent or opaque color.
I found it very hard to paint the faces using the awful B&W photocopies from class. So I decided to try a portrait using a photo that I have so the copy would be better and I could see more clearly. So I used this cute photo of the Pizza! I found it much easier to paint and I love the painting. I did not try any overpainting because I did not want to mess up the cute little Pizza's face. Now I am inspired to paint portraits for friends and family and maybe even start looking for commissions!

I changed the background to shades of blue and I like it better. So I think I am finished with this one. Again, I converted it to black and white to check the values...about the same. But not bad. I think the sunlight shows up well in the flowers.