Painting from the live male nude model. Block it ALL in!

For the last few weeks I have been painting, instead of drawing, during our sessions with the live model.  I don't work very large, usually 11" x 14" or 12" x 16".  I just re-worked the painting of the female nude back from last week - I had re-painted the background because I thought the blue was too strong and distracted from the figure.  But then it looked dull so I went back to blue!

I also defined the hand a bit more and just pushed the colors in a few areas.  I did not want to lose the fresh, bright colors of the figure or get too tight in the details since I was no longer looking at the model.

Last Thursday our group in Woodstock had the pleasure of working with a great male model, and I brought my acrylics again.  This time I was working on a canvas pad, and I didn't like the surface as much as the canvas boards - but we had a great pose with some dramatic lighting.

This is the beginning of the piece - I worked with a 1" flat brush, trying to establish the largest shapes, making sure the entire figure fit well on the page, and indicating the light and shadow.

Next I started to bring in some of the "local color" of his skin-tones.  I tried to avoid white at this point - I tend to get "chalky" if I mix in white too early.  And there was also a perfect, bright white hi-light on his head and I wanted to be sure that I didn't compete with it as I went on.

Blocking in more of the background and adding the light and shadow on the drapery to help establish the light source.

I want to finish this painting without defining the second leg - I want to keep the focus on his torso.  I have a couple references photos from the session so hopefully I can resolve everything.