Elena's Portrait Stage 2

Yesterday I worked on the background, deepening the colour and adding a slight light across the centre. The photograph has made it look far bluer and lighter than it actually is. Unfortunately it is impossible to take pictures in daylight this time of year - we seem to be living in permanent twilight. With something like this it is necessary to get the background finished first as there will be delicate hairs to paint on the girl and horse and no way should a background be attempted after that!
Today I started work on Elena's eyes - they will be the focal point of the painting so need the most attention to get them correct. Again, the photo does not show what I have done to it's best advantage and there is still work to be done, particularly on the left. When I work on a portrait, I use a very small brush and tiny amounts of paint and fiddle and blend over the course of the whole painting until I feel it is as good as I can get it. Today I may think the eyes are just about done, tomorrow I may see what I have forgotten or done wrong.

I haven't done as much this weekend as I had hoped - everyday life does tend to intrude, plus I had far too long a nap this afternoon - whoops! Hopefully the next couple of days will see more progress.