Ashton, 20" x 16", oil on linen

Ashton is a high-school admissions representative at the Academy, posing as a guest model for the second time. An illustrator himself, he offered to bring a few interesting hats for the session, including an old Chicago Bears leather headgear and an Aussie hat from his prop chest.

My plan for the painting was to take advantage of the connecting dark patterns to frame the light and warmth of his face. Without drawing any lines, I painted with a large brush moving from one shape of dark to another, starting with his hat, the shadow underneath, his neck and side, and then the shirt, before tackling the subtleties of colors on the front of his face.

He turned out to look like a rough ranch hand with an intense yet calm, even melancholy expression.