I spent an hour removing as much of the tan/brown as I could. These portrait studies are painted on 140 pd coldpress paper so I have to be careful that I don't rub any of the paper off. I chose to use a sea sponge rather than a Mr. Clean sponge.

Then across the top of the hat I painted bright yellow. (Yes, I knew it would fade to an ochre.) Then I turned the work upside down and layered a red orange that I faded at the edges. Going that intense a color has now altered the way the face and dress look. I am going to go ahead and paint the floral blob above the hat and then decide if I need to tone down the hat brim before working on the face and dress. This is going on longer than I wanted it to, but at least I am learning things.