Left Turn (16x12 oil on panel) painting process

"Left Turn" (16x12 oil on panel)

I created this painting shortly after taking an inspiring Zhaoming Wu workshop several years back. Here is the first stage, which was painted from a life model:

From this point onwards I continued working on this painting from my photo references of the model:

Models and references are just the starting point. While heads/faces will always naturally draw focus, my goal here was to create additional drama/focus on the area of her right thigh where the tattoo and red dress intersect. Towards this aim I isolate and exaggerate the intensity of light and the color saturation in that area...you will see this expanding out to include part of her arm as well. I also place a dark dark (yes, I meant to say that) right under that leg to increase focus. Next stage:

Next stage:

Next stage:

And the finished painting:

Thanks for reading! -David