Not much to see but there were a lot of adjustments. One of the bigger ones was that the head and neck weren't sitting right and the neck area of the hoodie was off. A lot. Also, some of the details on the jacket needed to be fixed or added and the eyes and hoodie needed to be darkened. Fiddly things but they matter. So I fixed them. Doesn't look like much but I didn't have a lot of time, either.

 Made some progress on this. Did what I thought I'd end up doing; a close up of the head which got slotted into the already done body. Since it's meant to be overcast and I really liked the sky color I used on the Brattle image, I took it and made a quick and dirty background. But I think I'm going to base the whole palette on the. Might use some overlays, haven't decided. But I do like the way this is looking a lot better.

This was the sketch I ended up using. Tried to keep the coloring a bit loose, though I suppose it's not. At this age, it's hard to bend or push my style. Then again, I like it. There are a couple lines that got lost in the hoodie and the neck. As there's a long way to go on the whole thing, it doesn't matter for now.

 Started another big something today. It's one that has to be done in pieces, hopefully just two; fore and background. I'm in it. As I was in a figure mood, I did me first. This is the first, rough pass. I was hoping to not have to do a separate head but I might end up doing it anyway. So far, I like everything but the face. Then again, I haven't spent THAT much time on it yet.

The idea came from the fact that one intersection in Harvard Square has always reminded me of one in Paris as depicted by painter Gustave Caillbotte:

I took some photos when in the Square last year with this image in mind. While the angle is different, to me, this always reminded me of standing at Nini's Corner (now gone) at the corners of Mass Ave, Brattle and JFK. Though I have to flip the composition, I feel the visual connection will be obvious. So, today, I took a photo of myself in the position, more or less, of the gentleman on the right. But I appear on the left. While I will not be painting the people exactly as they are in the photo, this is more or less what I'm aiming for:

When I made the sketch, I kept it as loose as possible, though it still came out kind of more precise than I wanted:

More to come.

 Finally managed to finish this. I'm really dragging artistically these days. There's so little response to my work, it's taking its toll. There's also the fact that I hate this time of year. I've been in retail for over 40 years and the holidays are just one giant mound of stress. I yearn for a time when I might enjoy them, too. Now, they're just something to try and get through. And that saps any creative energy I might have. But hey, I got a page done. That's something.