I really only took all these pictures because I typically ruin a painting part-way through, so I wanted to make sure I had a picture before I screwed it up.

This is a very traditional method for painting, with an monochromatic underpainting and color glazes. It was done in acrylic on 11X14 paper.

#1) A light pencil drawing straight on the paper (no gesso or medium yet). I rate this drawing a 6/10 in terms of effort. Not a lot, but my paintings usually get a 2 or 3, so I spent a fair amount of time getting the details right.

#2) I sealed the pencil with a clear coat, and then covered it with my favorite medium, light modeling paste. It is mostly transparent, so it doesn't hide the pencil. Once that had dried overnight, I added a light wash of base color. This color was meant to be the middle skintone - the dominant color in the picture.

#3) I painted in the figure using monochrome colors. Normally I use black/white, but in this case I decided to use red - it was just closer to the final color = less effort later.

#4) I glazed in the real colors. For the skin I used many layers of pale pinks, yellows, and some darker blues and greens for the shadows. For the hair I used gold for the highlights and brown and black glazes for the shadows. I did the swimsuit at the very end using fairly opaque paints straight from the bottle. Then I scrubbed in an opaque background in the same teal from the swimsuit.

The final piece is here: [link]