Workin' the Color Studies!

I'm doing a color study almost daily now, and it's paying off. Each new image gives me a chance to work with a variety of issues regarding composition, value, color, brushwork, process, decision-making and more. It's amazing how much it affects my confidence... and how much that confidence affects my painting!
The details are not intended to be polished, and only relatively accurate. However, I think that the images that are coming out of these exercises are gaining a certain convincing quality to the light, atmosphere and color scheme.  The shadows are making more sense, and my handling of relative values is improving.
The studies are taking longer than they really ought to. But I'm working on color mixing and decision-making, which will speed up with more practice and 'brush mileage.'
Here are two more. I had to stop in the middle of the portrait one to go to work. I'll finish it here in the next few days. The other was a combination of two reference photos.

01/29/14
Study for Portrait (unfinished)
Forest witchcraft 1
(60 min)
4x6" Acrylic on primed paper
Click here for reference

01/30/14
Daenerys and the Owl
(90 min)
4x6" Acrylic on primed paper
Click here for reference