Sooooo, whatcha doin?"

So my mantra for years has been "I can't do faces" This is why I love mixed media collage, because I never have to start with a blank face. Then I took a couple of classes, practiced alot, and found out with perseverance and a good eraser, I can draw faces. So after I found out I could DRAW faces, my mantra changed to "I can't paint faces". Again, a few classes, and a whole lot of practice, I found.... I can't paint faces. I have tried, and they never look like I want them to. Then I applied the technique I use in drawing charcoal faces, which is looking at my subject in terms of light and dark value, and not a facial features, and found that I could paint faces....a little. I still find that they end up looking like paint by numbers, but a recognizable face none the less. Here are a few that I am working on, and while I am not in love with them, I can recognize who they are. (Well except for the girl, I don't know who she is, but I am sure she looks exactly the way she is supposed to). I took earlier drawings I did of Mick Jagger, where I had already established the whole light/dark value thing, and on top of a whole lot of spray paint, I painted him with black, tan and brown only. The Chris Robinson is not a favorite, but he was a little harder to do for me, since I did not have an earlier drawing to look at, just a photo from a magazine. All in the name of practice. The girl is finished at 12x24 and has an encaustic top layer. The other two are 24x24 and are Tulip spray paint, acrylics and pitt pens.