Painting Whit: Step by step in open studio

My friend Whit modeled one day at the Prescott Mountain Artists' Guild Gallery while I was in the process of writing "Classic Portrait Painting in Oils". Recently, he reminded me  to send him some of the pics taken that day, and I thought I'd also share them here.

Below, one of the images of Whit from my book, showing how I evaluated my skin tone mixture by comparing it right against his skin.

Here is the studio set -up:

 

I took several in-process photos during our model breaks to show progress. Below, Step 1, placing and measuring to begin the drawing; separating light from shadow; and committing to the background.

Step 2: covering the canvas, roughing in skin tones in both light and shadow.

Step 3: building up paint; refining the drawing (always); and setting up the surface to accept Whit's beard.

Whit, final.