Draw It Out

I have been working on Steve's second portrait steadily. I have the background very close to the way I want it and the most important part of this portrait, the intense green tank top, is looking right to me.
But just like his last portrait, I'm starting to have some problems with his face. I somehow lost the tilt of his head, and the proportions of his features, and their placement on the head, are not right. I have been repainting this area for a while and build up on the panel surface is starting to be very apparent. I don't mind the build up of paint since I'm not one of those realists who needs to have the surface like a glossy photograph. I'm a painter and sings of the action of painting are a must, I think, in every painting.

Study of Steve, 2009, graphite on paper, 7 1/2 x 6 inches

After running into some problems with the face I thought it would be best for me to draw it and really spend some time studying his shapes. I found that drawing comes very easy to me, this little study only took a few hours to complete, that's of course in a trajectory of three nights. I'm not sure if I'm ready to go back to the painting, I guess I'll find out soon enough. For the moment I'm going to step back for a night or two and let everything simmer in my head. In the meantime I think I might start a new landscape.