"Duke"

[Timothy C. Tyler]

Mike, I know what you mean. Here's another way that is fun and doesn't risk your investment in the first work. Paint another work from your first. Use it like you would a plein air color study from which you mean to make a bigger studio work. Set them up side by side, mix tons of paint and determine to use most of the pigment. Start and finish alla prima - looseness must be the result. You can even use your photo as reference but refer to the early painting for the color, edges etc. Use what you've just learned.

This work is often exciting and usually takes far less time then you would think. I've done this with stills and landscapes too. The second work is nearly always the better of the two.