I’ve done some more work on this portrait and managed to photograph it a little better in daylight. Some archival repair tape, (left over from my foray into book-binding 25 years ago), seems to have supported the tear on the back and the paint has covered the worst of the damage on the front. The problem I have now is to do with my current learning curve. Some time ago I came across Paul Foxton at http://www.learning-to-see.co.uk
He was embarking on a fascinating journey back to painting which I am following with great interest. He introduced me to the Munsell system. I had always assumed that the main thing to observe when form turned away from light was value. From what I have read so far, changes in hue and chroma are just as vital. So I’ve invested in the Munsell Student Book, (actually my kids invested for my birthday), and am ready to embark on what I think is going to be an exciting and challenging process. Learning something new means you have to abandon, for a little while at least, the familiar and comforting. I happen to like this feeling. I remind myself that tomorrow, I will be someone who didn’t exist yesterday.

onion # 13, red onion skin, graphite on paper, 140 x 100 mm

I mentioned that I had to get a job. One consequence of this is that my time to paint has changed from daylight to evenings, except at the weekends of course. So when I returned to the current painting which is a layer of skin shed by my red onion, (it looks just like an autumn leaf), I had to wait for the day to fade so I could set up the lighting. I passed the time with a pencil version. It turned out to be a useful value study but I couldn't get it as dark as I wanted so I added a wash of ink.