I’ve fixed some of the drawing issues in the block in and painted in the background and the red part of the handle. For this study I am trying Winsor Newton Artisan Water Mixable Oils. These paints are much less expensive than Royal Talens Cobra and Holbein Duo Aqua. I’m also using a Naphthol Red, instead of Cadmium and am finding its transparency makes it harder to get a full value range with decent saturation when painting on top of the dark underpainting. I’ve been adding a bit of yellow, in addition to white in the lighter values to keep the red on the warmer side.

This composition is interesting in all four orientations. I keep rotating it as I paint and haven’t decided which is best. I’m thinking this design will be really fun to do as a 48″ x 60″ painting.