Victorian Faces 1

 I have been playing with painting faces.  A few years ago I tried a couple of family members from photos and found that fairly difficult.  The painting became too tight as I tried too hard to get a likeness. I enjoy the looser painting styles showing brushstrokes - difficult to achieve.
 I enjoyed painting portraits a lot and felt I needed lots of practise so decided to try again using old photos from the internet.  The women I have started with are from Victorian age black and white photographs. The photographs are very bright showing little in the way of facial form so I have to use my imagination somewhat.
I have used ivory black and white, others I have attempted to add colour and others one other colour such as yellow ochre, Vandyke brown, burnt umber, various Torrit Greys, etc.   I love how one small brushstroke can change an expression.  I decided to use a consistent 5x5"format for now.
This was the first one I tried, but the last finished as it is my third attempt at this one.

 

Victorian Face #1
5x5"oil on acrylic ground on ply
Vandyke Brown, Titanium White, Black, yellow ochre background