Just off the Easel: Big Yawn

After some more fine-tuning, I'm pretty sure that this little baby is done!  

Big Yawn

This is Sennelier oil pastel on Arches Cover primed with Colourfix Primer in Terracotta.  The size is about 8" x 12".  The photo I used as a reference image is one of 300+ pictures that our friend (and awesome photographer) Frank took of Natalie when she was only 2 weeks old.  And the photos were taken almost exactly a year ago!  


When I stepped back and looked at the last version, I noticed that some of the proportions were off.  So I made the hands bigger, the space from the eyes to the top of the head longer, and worked on the shading.  


Mainly I wanted to make Natalie look like she was yawning, not in pain or grimacing!  I was looking for an "Awwww" reaction and hope that the sweetness is conveyed in the expression.  After all, who wants a picture of an unhappy baby? 

Oops...how's this for unhappy!?

We'll see if I can keep my hands off of this one and leave it as is... next I'm going to work some more on the WIP: Ride on the Beach.  I think I've figured out why I was having such a problem the other day with the paint.  More on that soon!