Not Exposing Knife Edges on Young Buck

Above are the included reference photo from the reference library at www.wetcanvas.com  It requires registration but is a very well organized image library. The middle painting is one I did a few days ago. It is an 8x8 on gesso board done with a brush. I was pretty pleased with how it turned out, especially since I don't usually paint with brushes. The bottom image was done today strictly with a palette knife. I like the knife on best of course. There is something about the textured paintings that I really like. One of the great things in my opinion about using palette knives is it is easier to layer color and get a more impressionistic look than what I can get with brushes. I am inspired by Sally Shisler and what she can do with knives, and I admire her creativity. In studying her work recently, I have seen that my past paintings have shown a lot of pointed edges from the knife, and this is something I don't typically see in her work. Today I focused on not exposing that sharp edge.