Just A Study

A friend of mine sent me the cutest photo of 6 preschoolers sleeping on the couch at her grand-daughter's day care facility. I knew I wanted to paint it immediately. I would like to do a small oil for Daily Paint Works. I'm not one for doing prepaintings or studies, but I know that I'm skipping essential steps in the preparation of a painting. Soooo, thought I'd try a few small studies. 

This first one is merely a sketch. I used my small view
finder, and decided which piece of the photo I wanted
to paint. Then I sketched it in paying attention to the
composition.

The next thing I did should've been a value study! I forgot. haha I was too excited. Remember I'm new to this "not  jumping right in" thing! I really wish I would've done the value study because it would've helped a lot in the next step.

I would call this step a color study. I sketched it again, then
used watercolor to depict roughly the colors in the photo. I know
 already I only want to keep the middle child's outfit, and the
girl's top. I could've opted to change the colors in this step,
but decided to see how I liked it.

I'm not sure if I'm ready to try the oil painting now or not. I really want to use a very loose brush stroke, and noticed that the watercolor study is already too tight.  I think next I may try a quick study in oil with a large brush. Stay tuned. I may figure this out yet tomorrow. Have a great night!