I changed the headgear of the salter again. The scene in the studio today was pretty amusing: I donned the costume and painted using a mirror. But that figure still bothers me. No matter what I do to it or how much I (seemingly) improve it, I'm just not happy. I can think of two reasons for this. One is that I used myself as the model and, frankly, I think I have a fairly uninteresting face. Secondly, I think the expression is too cheerful: it shows only one emotion; there is no cross current. To fix the expression is almost impossible: this painting is just too small to model the features with more subtlety. Not to mention the time it would take. At some point I'm going to have stop working on this and paint something I can sell - unless someone out there in the blogosphere would like to fund an artist's endless fiddling with one small figure in one little study for what will be a large and profound work.

Tomorrow I think I will just draw. I need a good study of the shirt and apron on the salter. They looked incredible in the studio light. The sleeve swirling around the raised arm was like something out of Caravaggio and the white apron's stiff skirt and wide cinched waist made a silhouette like the line of a Japanese print.