Opie in progress 1

I've decided to do this painting on a golden-brown ground, called "Bisque" by the 500-year-old French company that makes it. The choice of ground color is important since my medium is transparent, and this ground showing through will give the whole painting a warm glow. I also chose this color because of Opie's brown coat. As you can see, everything in the painting has been drawn in with white pencil.

 Parts of the painting are masked off using a self-stick plastic film that is cut with a sharp X-acto knife (Opie's head), and pieces of waxed paper (far left and far right). The intricate parts of the tree branches are masked with a liquid latex that is painted on with a brush and let dry, and afterwards will be peeled off. Masking all these areas will allow me to go across the mountain background with smooth washes using a large brush, and not have to worry about stopping to paint carefully around the tree and Opie - which would ruin the smoothness of the wash.