Portrait Demo by Louis Smith

As I checked out the blog posts that I belong to, I came across a teacher and portrait painter, Louis Smith,  that was noteworthy. Painting in a gray scale is difficult but a valuable exercise in learning about values.   I have been on a quest these past couple of weeks to understand the word halftone and understand how to use it with skill.  After much reading and a reference about John Singer Sargent's paintings having basically two values, I plowed into anything to do with halftones.  I can't say that I totally understand but I know more now than I did before.  I do know that too many values in a painting is, as C.W. Mundy said, like fingernails on a chalkboard.  More than that, too many values make for a weaker painting.  Value studies and notans help in preplanning a painting and to control the values.  Looking at Smith's demonstration, I see at least five different values in the face and hair.  My struggle is in understanding this concept---how should I collapse these values into two or three stronger values?  I am tempted to use all five! Your comments are welcome.