I have an itch to share my WIP painting with someone who isn't my husband. At first I wasn't going to post it here because I didn't want to put unfinished stuff in my gallery, but then I realised I could attach pictures to statuses. So look! I'm nearing the end of my oil study of Makovsky's _Zaporizhian Cossack_ (second image, though I'd imagine that's obvious).

Turns out painting silk is hard and painting braid is annoying, if pretty. I'm slightly terrified I'm going to mess it all up when I try to do the skin. This is my first portrait.

I brightened the colours a little because I figure the original would have been brighter when it was new, but I might have gone a bit far. It doesn't look so great put side-by-side :'(