Recent efforts

Jeff, I like the treatment of the clothing on the self-portrait, and the confidence in the hatching strokes. It has a very architectural quality, because of the strength of the outline, and the lines you're using to indicate the contours. Is there a name for those lines? I'm taking a workshop where the painter is calling it an "envelope."

I also like the utterly different (and more tender?) treatment of your wife. Nice front hand. Excellent hair!

You indicated you were going to go for a higher level of finish. Please post them again, love to see them evolve.

Beth, Thanks for reminding me of this, I need to hear it every so often. Even though all my references talk about a single area of greatest light (or two, if you have a nose), I often forget and get crazy with the cheese whiz on my highlights. A little blending, and lo, I'm chalky, I'm columnar, and I'm starting over.

The head isn't a ball, or an egg, but it certainly isn't a column either. I think the value in calling a head a ball or an egg is that it's a handy little song to sing to oneself to remind the brush to focus, and to show restraint.