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I have been busy teaching a number of workshops over the last month.  Just finishing a four-week workshop on Portrait Painting Basics.   When doing so I often do a demonstration to help my students see the development of a portrait, how to start  and finish one.  

The process doesn't take much time, provided you use a big brush to create the big shapes in the face.  From there I continue to create shape in a face by shifting values using darks and lights.  Just as a sculpture first carves the rough shape of a statue and then on to details, so it is with painting a portrait.  

 

This particular painting,  done after John Singer Sargent, used a very limited palette:  red, yellow, black and white.  The demonstration is a valuable teaching tool that helps and inspires the students.