I’m sharing 3 photos with you so you can see how I generally start a painting. This is another large unstretched canvas at around one meter by one and one-half meters (40 x 60 inches).

The first photo is just the lineart done on paper. Nothing is ever cut in stone in regards to maintaining the same lines throughout the evolution of a painting, but I do need to be content with my shapes before I transfer this small image to the cloth.

The second photo is that sketch after having been transferred to the canvas.

After doing this, I was reminded of the Mannerist Parmisianino‘s Madonna with Long Neck. It was the long neck in this large format that had me vaguely recall this late Florentine Renaissance painting, so I gave it a look. Similar yes, but not altogether remeiniscient. Missing were the angels on the lower left, so other than these added elements which are needed in the composition anyway (Thank you, Parmisianino) the resemblance is purely coincidental.

Having done the linework quick’n’easy like with my greasy, self-drying crayons, the third photo shows the start of the underpainting. After the lines are applied, I take a large brush with a few drops of solvent and just start brushing out, recharging the brush with solvents from time to time quite frequently to dissolve the paints. This whole process on canvas to this point is pretty wild and free, non-consequential, even, but highly conducive for the later workings. Underpainting allows me to develop the dark and light tones so I don’t need to search them out later. In this case, I took the photo before I was done with the toning via paint removal…