Jesus, 14"x11", oil on canvasConfronted with massive structure of Jesus' head, I thought it was most appropriate to start the painting by blocking-in the big planes of his head using a large brush.
Throughout painting, I noticed subtle grays and cool temperature on his face, including very blue highlights on his hair. I had to be careful not to mute the color too much and contradict the gentle light on his face with overly brilliant highlights on his hair.
At the beginning of the painting, I laid down very thin wash of color in the right corner of the canvas and let it run. The wash was so thin and I blocked-in the mass of his hair so quickly that it flowed into the shape of his head. It looked almost as though his head was being invaded and melted by some sort of living organism–a rather disturbing image. So I thought about covering it up with more solid background, but decided to just leave it be, for now anyways.
