Young Artist at Work in black and white

4. Young Artist, color started; 5. above finished dark/light pattern

3. block in for painting, 24x18, oil on pane.

2. Study for Young Artist, 9x12, oil on panel

1. study for Young Artist, graphite on paper

1. This was my first attempt at a dark/light pattern for this painting. (In doing a dark/light pattern you have to think of the mediums values going either towards the dark or towards the light while maintaining a good flow to the pattern created.) In this version I joined the stool and the taboret (artist storage shelves) together and it seemed too heavy, not enough pattern, even though the colors of the two are very closely matched which made me think to tie them together.
2. In the small oil study I carved the stool she is holding on to out of the dark shape and also a tube of paint that is standing up on the lower shelf within the shape of the legs of the stool. I decided I had to leave parts of the legs tied to the dark pattern and I am liking #2 better. 
3. On the full sized board I decided to start the color version with a black and white block in to help keep me within the pattern I had created. I added on more section of the fourth leg into the light pattern but I am not convinced it will stay there. At this point in time, I don't think it adds anything to the whole. 
4. Here I am starting to add color. In the dark recesses of the taboret is dark blueish red, which reads as a dark as does the blue black of her jeans. Distinct color shifts but not value shifts. This is not going to be a "color filled" painting overall, but you can see what color does to the overall image already. Her shirt is a solid black but I was leaving the black of her shirt that is in the light separate for the subtle value shift that will come. This is just where I ended my day.
5. This is the completed dark/light pattern although technically I would force a few more areas now that I see the photograph. In the light hitting her shoulder for one. I forgot to go back in and tone that down. It is now too late as I am moving it into a local tone painting. Stay tuned!