Painting Process - Step 3 - Block In

I'm lucky to be able to use the cast room at the Julian Ashton's Art School to work on this painting. Julian Ashtons is the oldest art academy in Sydney. It's a great environment and I've always enjoyed spending time there.

This step took roughly two hours. Here is a breakdown:
1. First, I used a wet sponge to apply acrylic burnt umber to the canvas board. It took roughly 15 minutes for it to dry.
2.I then used a thin, synthetic, size 3/16, square-tip brush loaded with oil-based burnt umber to begin sketching in the portrait.
3.As I'm still deciding on the general colour scheme, I've chosen to block in the facial features tonally with the burnt umber first. This still allows me to change any hues if needed and use the burnt umber as a base for the shadows.

As I'm just blocking in, I'm not too fussed about finer details. I can see that I'll have to bring the ear and the left eye down. The nose needs more mass and the lips are not quite right. But that's fine, as I can now refine it further and add more colour.

In my next post I will decide on colours and work more on the form.