How Do I Put the Rose in the Cheeks?

Almost 2 years ago, I had the pleasure of spending the day under the instruction of artist, Colin Pringle. He was conducting a color seminar and I even took a day off from work so I could attend.  We only painted swatches on canvas panels, but I learned so much.  I'm so glad I took that effort because a few months ago, Colin passed away and it turned out that was my only opportunity to paint with him.

This week I started a new piece of a little Native American Girl holding a puppy dog.  My first attempt last week at the flesh-tone recipe for a Native American portrait I thought lacked a realism and a glow so This morning I dug out my notes from that day long ago.  Colin gave us the base recipe for each skin tone and so I thought I would just share that information today.

Caucasian:  1 pt Cad Red lt

                   2 pt Cad yellow lt and wash with burnt umber

Asian:          1pt yellow ochre

                     1/2 pt Cad Red med

                     1/4 pt burnt umber

                     white

Dark Skin:   2 pts burnt umber

                  1 pt blue

Mexican:   1 pt burnt umber

                  1/2 pt cad red med

                  1/4 pt yellow ochre and wash with burnt umber

Native American: 1/2 pt burnt umber

                         1 pt cad red med

                         1/4 pt yellow ochre and wash with reds

Initial sketch based from a photo retrieved from the public domain library of photos on a Facebook page I follow

Rough draft of my current painting that I'm working on.

This is how the piece looks with just rough blocking in. Of course I know that there are many different opinions but I thought I would start here and experiment with these to see what I come up with.  I do know that I need to work on the coloring of my little girl because she has no glow.

More detail added but still have a long way to go before she is finished

I've worked here on glazing the face and adding more highlights.  Over all I think this piece has potential and hopefully I can pull of the beautiful handwoven blanket and bring life to her fuzzy little companion.  As someone who adores jewelry I am amazed and the pieces this young girl is wearing.  Bracelets of silver and large adornment hanging from around her neck.  It appears to be made of silver, shells and turquoise.  There are even large silver buckles on her little belt.  I'm working from a old black and white photo so I'm really guessing on the colors for this piece.  I'm sure I will be blogging again about this one before she is finished.