Louis Vuitton - another painting progression

This figure drove me nuts.  A simple young woman, holding a huge Louis Vuitton shopping bag, pretty straightforward. But I just couldn't get it right. Here's how it went down...........

First washes:

 Feeling pretty good at this point. In fact, wondering if I wasn't almost done -- I liked the loose, painterly textures.

But then I got hung up on the face. These blocks are so very small, and trying to get too much detail in the tiny faces frustrates me, I keep trying to simplify and not get too caught up in the details.

She was getting a bit messy:

 And her leopard print leggings were not happening. Ugh. I kept painting them and then wiping them away:

So I went back to her face - not too bad:

But I still couldn't get those legs right. I put the painting down for a while, a week or so and then came back to it. It was all very dry (not enough linseed oil) and she looked rather vacant, in addition to her troublesome legs:

So I returned to it later and made some changes. I opted to give her a pair of jeans rather than leggings and altered her face and head, to better effect I think:

Ok, done, time to stop!

New York City Subway No. 14

4" x 4" x 1.5" oil on cedar wood block

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