Yes I did draw a grid out, just to speed things up. Once the oil paints start going on it will be more or less ignored in favour of whatever works the best.
A white canvas with a drawing on it can be daunting. I mean, where do you start painting?
I get over this by applying rough tonal values using very thinned down oils - in this case Daler Rowney burnt umber, because I have a lot of it.
Already I feel much more at ease. For a while. I know the faces don't look much like Lauren and Steve yet, but this is just a guide. They will be the last thing I paint. This is mostly because I find painting a background up to the edge of a face really tricky. I will save the worry about "can I paint their faces" for later. Definitely not thinking about that now... at all...
Where on earth should I begin the actual oil painting? It is a pretty big canvas (60x90cm) with lots going on.
NEXT!
