This is working well. I’ve created a pattern over the surface of the dress to break it up more effectively than the simple layered structure it had before. It’s a lot of work, taking plenty of time, partly because the pattern recedes and advances from light to dark, which means I lose track of where I should be painting brown or white.
I’ll continue with the work tomorrow, then add some yellow when it dries, popping in some highlights later on. Originally I wanted to avoid making this dress too complex for fear that it would draw focus from the feet coming forward on the right side of the painting, but on reflection I think that it’s going to drop back again once it’s lightened up and unified with the rest of the dress.