Denim and Background

OK, so the sofa is a sickly color of  yellow/green.  This too shall be resolved down the road, but for now it covers the canvas and is pretty close to what was in my photo-shoot.  I will most likely tone it way down as I progress.  I am pretty satisfied with the denim jeans and will tweak them also as the painting progresses  to a finished state.
 Foreshortening is tricky.  If I look at my subject from one position in the room, the hip seems larger, but if I stand to the right and further back from the subject, things look entirely too small in the hip.  Now add to that, the fact that a camera shoots just what it sees without regard to human anatomy and you have a real confusing situation.  This is where a sound knowledge of human anatomy is a must.  If you are going to paint figural works and portraits, then studying from life is a must.  I have seen otherwise wonderful art that falls flat on its face simply because the artist did not know how arms join to the shoulder or connect at the elbow and therefore look like sausages hanging from the body.  Knowing how a hand connects to the wrist tells me that my one hand is a bit too small and is not dangling from the chair arm in a convincing manner.  Back to Drawing Board now!