Continuing on the same area as yesterday I have added just a little more of the subtle texture.

The subtle shading is taking shape on the white 'blaze'. I have added some masking fluid to the right hand side of the face on the painting, as I want that to appear almost pure white, with only the faintest wash-hairs showing. This is in order to emphasise the light quality from the sun on that side of the head.

I have worked some more on the hair in the ears, and started to add hair texture to the top of the head. Whilst the cow has a white blaze down its head, there are many different subtle colours which are not white, plus shadows to be added. This will be quite a long process, as I am using a very fine brush, not to paint each hair as in hyper-realism, but hair texture.

I have added dark tones to the ear and begun to add hair texture. In this photo, the colour is not as warm as it is in the actual painting, but I shall warm it further by adding the reddish coloured hair as an overlay.
The right ear now has its undertones, with a suggestion of shadow where it meats the head.
When I add the background, which will be pale so as to 'silhouette' the left ear, it will fall short of the ear's extremity. The ear will appear to come out of the frame, which will add to the dimension of the work. I will take a break from the painting over the Easter season, and come back to it with 'new eyes'.

The texture on the left side of the head has now been added. There may be one or two more brushstrokes before I finish the area, but I will decide that at the end. I have darkened the background to the ear and added some subtle tonal changes in the left eye.
The background will be a 'fuzzy' range of greens to suggest a field or meadow. It will have enough interest in the variety of colours but, like in photography, shortening the focal range helps to concentrate the focus on the subject, and too much background detail will detract from it.

Underpainting on some of the lit side of the head has given it more form, which makes the composition clearer. The inside of the ear will be much darker, as it is in shadow, and this should highlight that side of the face giving it more dimension.
Using tone, colour, intensity, contrast and perspective are elements that I try to combine with the aim of giving my work a dimensional quality. When the work is complete I will see if I have been successful.

I have put a background wash on the left side of the cow which is in sunlight. The yellow under-colour will provide a background for the red/brown of the skin hair. The white 'blaze' down the face will need may subtle tones with some 'bleeding' of the white into the surrounding colour.

This is the darker side of the face, and there is still more texture to add, but it should provide a contrast to the sun-lit side as I progress. There is a similar 'eye patch' of colour around the left eye of the 'beast', but the sun will naturally change the colour. It is this change that I am hoping will give the 'lit' quality to the finished composition that I am trying to achieve.
The ears will be coloured also, but the rest of the face is white.