I think I’ve reached the sleep-on-it phase of Bados’ portrait.  (Looking again, tilting my head, going back and adding some more greens to the shadow area at his feet …)
Yeah.
I’m going to eat my leftover pizza (from Pizza Pi in Seattle – oh, people!  YUM!), by which time it should be dry enough to scan so you can see.  Back in a few.

Pizza eating ensues.  Lip-smacking, and crumb-gathering, followed by a last mournful stare at the empty box.

Bados ©Xan Blackburn, 2011

Okay, let’s take a look.

A few more passes over the meadows and hills, some attention to the sky, some little suggested wild flowers down in the foreground.

Bados himself received a lot of tiny-brush attention: Heightening details with both shadows and highlights, getting all the sketchy brindle patches right, bringing the back-lit fringy bits into focus so he glows like the star he is, and washing here and there with more glazes of burnt umber and white, pinks, even some Payne’s gray.

I like it!  What’s he looking at?  What’s he thinking about?  He is on the verge, that moment between going one way and then another.  Will he go towards what he’s watching, or the other way to play “rabbit”?

Bados, detail ©Xan Blackburn, 2011

Here’s a closer look at Bados.  Is that close enough?  Let’s look just a little bit closer at his face, just for fun.