Dilara is a life model and I painted the below oil sketch from a recent portrait painting class I taught at Sydney Art School.

The oil sketch is the result of a couple of sessions demonstrating to students how to paint predominantly Alla Prima (a direct painting approach where paint is applied wet on wet without letting earlier layers dry).

I have a direct style of painting, where I prefer to block in the colours that I see and immediately cover the canvas so none of the white from the background shows through. This approach also aids me to establish colours and values in the early stages of the painting, and providing a solid foundation for consecutive paint layers.