The Color Purple

In looking at my reference, I saw that the dark background contained just a hint of purple. I intended to begin with a dark purple and then go darker. But, as my paintbrush began listening to the canvas, the purple simply took over.

I went into this painted committed to loosen up (I put away all my 0 and 2/0 size brushes - oh the withdrawls!) and paint at least a bit more in the style of Cassatt. In making this inner commitment I decided to simply go with the more vivid color. In fact, I had decided that I would block in the entire canvas before finishing in any details. I felt this was a good start.