George the Bartender

I wanted to paint this portrait years ago and scaled it up and drew some lines on it to suggest where George would be.   Yesterday and today I prepared to work on this portrait that is 36x60".  I charcoaled an outline over the previous light pencil sketch and dug out the old photos for reference.  I decided that I didn't like the arrangement that I had previously planned.  I made a few other compositions from cutting up photos and you can see them here.  Next I'll do some sketches and some small versions of George to get familiar with the idea and to test out the design.  It might be hard for you to see what my plan might be, but I like the last one best so far.

I also repainted a lemon that is part of a previously completed painting.  I like the new one much better, then I cooked fish for supper and ate the lemon.  It was a little weird to be eating something that lives on in my painting.