Houston..? and updates to my WIPs

Oh my oh my... I wasn't kidding about learning a whole new language of painting! Between liquin, galkyd, linseed oil, glazing, drying medium, turpenoid, and the umpteen other things involved in oil painting, my head is spinning! I'm either going to go broke and/or crazy trying experiment with everything while figuring it all out and trying to create a usage/style for working with them.

With watercolors I was a bit more stingy as far as how I used them; I never used masking fluid, nor did I ever use any texture mediums, or any mediums at all. Hell... I only ever sketched the most rough of underdrawings prior to starting a painting. Again, oils vs. w/c has massive differences.

Well anyway; here are the 3 paintings I have been working on plus one more I started... I also prepared 2 more surfaces, so If I get really crazy I'll have 6 (SIX) paintings going at once. I need something to do while waiting for the paint to dry in between layers ;)

My first oil painting this decade, and this century. Yup, a lot of issues because of that. Lessons learned? 

1) Pthalo Blue does NOT dry quickly... ~sigh~
2) Mediums are available for a reason!

here is the sketch I did that this painting is based on; it's a study of a sculpture that can be found in the Museum of Fine Arts, in Boston.

Lessons learned?

1) "ahh, a using a medium is good!" (but...)
2) ...straight linseed oil takes a LONG time to dry!!

Lessons learned?

1)Ahhh Galkyd works better than linseed oil; BUT...
2)ancient brushes really suck!

Sketch based on a pose froma stock image:

Lessons learned?

1)hmmnn... let me get a little further on this one before I decide.

Sketch based on pose from something, somewhere... damned if I remember.