Last Sunday in October

As the nights really do start to draw in, I can feel my usual response of needing to bake, or knit or read,or draw or paint all of it in the warmth of a cosy cottage and not needing so much the tennis or walking that I am supposed to keep going. 
Anyway, I did get into the studio yesterday and worked on the portrait. I almost don't want to show it in its current state as I am not pleased with the work at the moment. However, I always find the mistakes as useful in the long run as the successes, so will briefly talk through what I tried to do and why I think it went wrong. Hopefully, my next blog will show an improvement....
I wanted to blend the tones on the skin more gently so I re-worked most of the face with a lighter mix of raw sienna, white and cadmium yellow with the tiniest touch of red. I left the nose alone as I was feeling OK about that, and also the highlighted forehead. The result is too bland and does not show the shadows enough. I did then try a little shadowing at the side of the face which is in the original image but it looks like he has a smudge of dirt on his face. When I go back to it, I think I need to add the darks more confidently. Watch this space for whether I succeed. Any ideas or comments, gratefully received, by the way. I compounded the problem by using payne's grey to outline the eyes and define the mouth and smile lines so that an almost cartoonish look is now there, drat it.. I cheered myself up with a bit of work on my cards, also shown here. Happy Hollowe'en!