Hat - Progress 4

Yesterday I painted the darkest colours in the skin parts. I like to work up from the darkest colours to the lighter ones, so this dark red is the first later. But when stepping back, I really like the contrast of colour between the cold blue hat and the warm skin, although I won't leave it there - I'll carry on with more natural colour.

A couple of things are worrying me though:

First is a shadow on the neck which comes from the leaves but could be interpreted as a lump on the throat.

Second is the shadows lower down on the chest. They really have to look like shadows otherwise the viewer might think there is a deformity here.

I think I'll paint out the neck shadow completely and risk painting something which I've no reference for, and try to tone down the lower shadows so they are not so strong.

There's always something... :)