Portrait Of A Little Girl: "Clio", Stage 1

 Stage 1: Drawing in the figure with paint. The most important thing at this stage is having a great reference photo to work with. I photographed little Miss Clio in her back yard on her swing and was happy about the color, lighting and composition. Sometimes I get so excited to paint that I rush through this stage, anxious to move on and add color. This time I intentionally relaxed and enjoyed the process of mixing a thin wash of Transparent Earth Red and mineral spirits and then loosely drawing in her image (using a soft cloth to rub out the lines that I didn't want). It was fun and for some reason I was reminded of the countless hours I spent drawing people freehand as a high school student - one of my favorite pastimes.