Getting old isn't easy

My latest completed work was more of a challenge than I expected. I wanted to paint a Native American with signs of age and time on his face. This proved harder than I thought. I have never painted an older person before, always sticking with smooth youthful skin, and my first versions were heavily lined and not what I was going for. After several attempts, I put him aside and worked on other things (more on that later) and stared at him to determine how to proceed. His heavy eyelids were exactly what I wanted, but the lines had no character, no depth. I went back to the foundation of light and dark and went at it again and it worked. His face shows age and experience without being covered in lines. On this Indigenous People's day, it seems appropriate to post part of my new series of First Citizens.