[John Zeissig]

I've worked on the left hand for the past week, and wound up with the version below. I read somewhere that Goya charged extra for every hand in a painting. Seems like a smart policy to me. Anyway I've scraped the thing down and beaten it into almost every shape imaginable. Luckily I have the model to hold a wineglass so I could check things out. The overall contour of the hand in this position is pretty accurate, based on direct observation. The lighting is tricky, as a small change in angle relative to the light source makes a big difference in the values of the different parts of the hand.

I've shortened the fingers slightly by extending the palm. I also brought the light around a little bit counter-clockwise. This gives three distinct values in descending order: the distal ends of the fingers, the middle portion after the second joint, and the back of the hand. I also increased the lighted area on the index finger to bring it out over the middle finger. It definitely looks better in the actual painting and I hope it shows in the scans.

I've never put in so much work on 1/2 a square inch of anything, as far as I can remember.

Oh yeah, I apologize for my awful joke in my last post. Sometimes things just come over me. It's like having Tourette's Syndrome. I guess that's what Tim was reacting to.