Jayce, 16"x12", oil on board

A few days before this week's painting session, I primed a Masonite board with gesso. Onto the second layer of gesso, I created a moderate texture by dragging the brush on the wet surface. After the board was completely dry, I toned it with many random brush strokes using a mixture of mostly transparent oxide red and viridian. I did this to make the background of the final painting suggest the distinctive appearance of Jayce's wildly unkempt hair.
From the beginning, I decided that I would not finish his whole head. Instead, I wanted the color and brushwork surrounding his head to look as if they are a part of him. I started the painting by carefully working on his eyes and made my way down to his nose, mouth and so on. Generally, I would paint the head by first blocking in the larger shapes and then moving on to the smaller details, but sometimes I just want to paint differently. Besides, my main impression of Jayce, particularly from my vantage point, was that of his eyes staring out of the surrounding dark of his hair.