Painting Demonstration for Golden High School art class

Donald Sutherland, from
The Great Train Robbery

Tim Miller is one of my friends from school days. He is an art teacher at Golden High School (see this story.) He invited me to do a painting demonstration for one of his art classes, who are doing a portrait project in Acrylic.

The students were great, and their own artwork is awesome. I am blown away by the level of artistry of these high school students, and excited for them.
I searched around for a good reference photo, with a face that had a good 'sculptural' quality. I originally thought of doing a portrait of Peter Cushing, until I discovered that the photo I was going to use was not a photo at all, but a 3D render... and a really good one! But a digital render was not the right reference for this demonstration, as it would mean re-interpreting another artist's interpretation, if you know what I mean.
Then I found some photos of Donald Sutherland, who I have always thought would be fun to draw or paint. He has a very interesting, distinctive face. That's when I stumbled across this photo  of Sutherland from The Great Train Robbery.Wow, how cool. A great actor, a great costume, and a pretty good photo.

An hour isn't enough time to complete a painting (and more's the pity, eh?) So I decided to show some of the basics and concepts that I use when mixing colors.  

I enjoyed the demonstration, and I like the actor, the costume, and the photo, so I decided to follow up the demo by finishing the painting and posting step-by-step photos.  There is a lot to do with the piece to finish.

This should be fun. :)

04/09/14 in-class demo
Initial values and colors

04/09/14 Back in the studio
Light wash of Yellow Ochre
to warm the face.
Develop structure around
the (left) eye, cheekbone,
and forehead.