Work in Progress

Every now and then I like to paint a watercolor as a response to an online challenge. The first group I ever participated in was at Maury Kettell's Watercolor Passion web site

http://watercolorpassion.com/. Maury poses four challenges a year, and the current one is to paint a self-portrait. I painted one about four years ago, and thought I would have another go at it, smaller this time since the first one was painted on a half sheet, and I find it almost frightening to look at myself that size.

This one is not finished. The photo I used was taken on a hike in Rocky Mountain National Park, and I like the strong shadow the hat cast over most of my face. I probably will leave the face mostly alone, but I still have lots of work to do on the background. I want a simple background, darker on the right side, a little lighter on the left. What color should I use? This is the scary part, because at any time I can still really mess this up. I printed out a copy of the painting so far, and plan to play with different backgrounds before I commit myself to the paper.

Any suggestions?