UNDERPAINTING

Here are a few images of the progression of the under painting that I start all my pictures with.  As you can see I'm painting on a canvas that has a neutral grey ground applied, that is my first step.  Then after carefully selecting and cropping my photo, I apply a grid to it, so I know what I'm working with.  Then comes the task of transferring that grid to the canvas which I did here with white colored pencil.  Next step is to lay in the composition which I do in black and white.  The final image shows the completed under painting which doesn't have to be too refined, but just enough for me to see what I've got.  So I set this aside and work on something else tomorrow because the paint will not be dry.  I love working this way.  I'll follow the steps of this piece here in the blog so you can see how it progresses.