When painting portraits it is often important to observe and follow light patterns; the directions the light flows across the form. When I can detect a pattern, I try to apply that same shape of ‘bright’ to the painting. It is this procedure which helps to make the feature seem three dimensional on a flat canvas. I call this SCULPTING the image. I use this process in the grisaille and then I repeat the patterns in the flesh layers as well.

In attempting my first master copy I have already recognized that Bouguereau did, in fact, understand hair. He knew how each strand composed a curl or braid, how it caught the light and how to transpose all that information onto the canvas with oil pigments! He was a master, indeed!