Today's exercise

These value scale under paintings are all 5"x7" and took about 5 minutes each to finish. I started by drawing quick thumbnails of all the photos in my current potential paintings folder. After 15 minutes and 30 drawings later I chose these 4 (because I only have 4 pieces of paper left) to paint. I circled my favorite four and then transfered them with slight adjustments to sanded paper. I then got a dark purple hard pastel and filled in the dark and mid values and used paint thinner to push around the pigment for a painterly effect. Im getting to the point where drawing these thumbnails is almost art in itself and it doesn't seem like work. It is easy to see now how some painters of old became so immersed in their art that it consumed them completely.