Musings of a struggling artist

After gesso-ing over my latest painting attempt in disgust and frustration I recently started it over again several weeks ago. It is smack in the middle of the ugly stages right now and the challenge for me is to have the faith to finish it. I have committed to myself that I will finish this piece regardless of the outcome. I am reminding myself that art is a spiritual process and I am bringing to life something that did not exist before, that the beauty is in the human hand and the imperfections that result.

I am enjoying working with my new palette and the subtle greens and neutrals that I am able to obtain with it in the skin tones. The drawing is more correct than my first attempt. I still need to work in the shadows of the far shoulder. The shadows and the face are still only blocked in now. I also need to fix the hand by the face, the webbing of the palm is too strong for my liking even though it is correct in regards to the reference photo.

Here is a the underpainting



and the progress so far.