This piece is called Woman Seated.  I thought I had finished it and felt excited about the vigorous palette knife strokes and the bold colors.  Then my husband and older son independently looked at the piece and told me that I was not done!  In no uncertain terms.  The model is one of my son's friends, so he was very clear, "Mom, I'm not going to let you leave her looking like that.  She's much pretty than that.  No way.  You made her look way too masculine.  You have to make her look better."  OK OK OK OK!

So she sat around the studio for a couple of weeks, looking at me, saying the same things Andrew had.  Today I wasn't expecting to have a chance to paint because my mom just got out of the hospital so I figured I'd go over there and help her out.  We spoke on the phone, though, and she's doing OK, so she told me to go ahead and stay home.  Time to paint!

I didn't have a new canvas to work on so I figured that must mean it's time to work on Woman Seated again.  I decided to try putting in more accurate coloration, but using glazes so that the previous colors would show through.  I was curious to see how that would look.  I'm pretty thrilled so far actually.  It's obvious, I think, which parts I worked on today.  I love how her skin looks translucent as the bold colors from before show through.  It makes her skin glow.  I don't have time to work more on it now because it's Chris's birthday, but I think I'll have some time to get back to it tomorrow.  

I'm blessed to have two such discerning critics in the house to help me be more patient when I think I'm done but am not!  Thanks, Andrew and Chris!