







I continued with research and has a further look at the Fauvists movement, to help inform my next practise.








At this point I continued research on colour, values, grounds and balance here.

Very simple charcoal outline seems to be more effective than too much detail at this early planning stage.


Very red-orange even with highlighted left background. However, I like it as this one complements the green of the face and apron

I decided to bring the majority of the background back to yellow ochre to complement the blue-purple of the dress and hair. Another option is to highlight the face with yellow ochre as well.
Aside from the too-dark patch on the cheek, I like the effect of this style of painting. This one was based on a tetrad of Yellow Ochre, Blue-Green, Blue-Purple and Red-Orange. What I have learned from this and my research is to consider what colour to make dominant. At the moment it is equally balanced but the red-orange seems to overpower the picture.
I enjoy the second one too, it has an art deco sharpness to it, unintentional but eventually the marks were being over-worked I think and it became this way.
What I like and will take forward in my assignment:

The picture on the left originally felt it had too much dark tone, contrasting too much with the (wrong) high-key orange in the face. I think this one has more interest, all over, with the mixed coloured background as well. This is the same painting, my final study. I seem to have returned to a similar palette to my previous attempt. Both seem to work to me, the colour are not in equal amounts.
New pose


Composition
I tried both portrait and landscape composition as I wanted the background to be a feature, I wanted to see how I could use the orientation to best effect.



The painting is not the feature here! This was a quick study in placement.
I have to say at this point that this has been the biggest leap in my courage, to create a self-portrait. I left this exercise to the end because I was nervous. I wanted to complete this further as an assignment for my own confidence and self-development.