Emilia's shirt

I'm posting this in response to a request to see the texture of Emilia's shirt (click the photo). As I said in a comment, the shirt is done in a more painterly, loose fashion, although the embroidery on the sleeve (the other one isn't finished) is more tightly rendered. I added that in general, I was concerned with making the center of interest (her face) the most tightly rendered. I do this because the eye is drawn to the most detail.

Here's the thing, though, even if I hadn't given her face the most detail, it would have drawn the eye. Any time there is a figure in a painting, it will draw the eye of the viewer. People are just hard-wired to notice anything like the shape of another human being. And any time a face is visible, that's where the eye will go. So I'm just reinforcing it here.

I thought you might like to see a photo of my studio. The part you can't see is where all the mess is...