Portrait of Kim Louie

I am currently working on a portrait of a good friend Kim Louie. The painting is in the early stages and so far I am happy with it. I am using red violet and green. As the painting stands now it is very green. The green is there for what it will become. I will add the red violet to the green, which will cause the green to dull it, will become almost no color. A color that is on the cusps between green and red violet. This is what I want because in the shadows of the face colors are very dull.

For the areas of the face illuminated by light I will not add the red violet because I don’t want the colors to dull. Instead, I will add orange and red. In doing this the greens will become brownish but keep there intensity. Then I can add white witch will create the fleshy color.

You may ask if I am changing the colors anyway then why start with green. Why not just mix the colors and apply them directly?
The green is the middle ground. While most of it will disappear it keeps the colors connected on a natural color spectrum. As darkness falls on a subject it not only gets darker but it loses saturation. I am tapping into an intensity spectrum that happens in nature.

Thank you Kim for posing you are doing a good job I am looking forward to the next session.