A Work in Progress

I am going to be posting the process of a large oil painting (30x53) along with the materials and the approximate time that it took me for each step. The finished painting will be displayed during ArtPrize, a two week art competition in Grand Rapids, MI. This is an international competition and is gaining momentum as the largest cash prize offered in an art competition. The votes are gathered by anyone who wants to participate, register and vote for their favorite works of art. See http://www.artprize.org/ for more information. My painting will be showing at Plaza Towers on the corner of Fulton and Monroe. I will post the voting code with the last post when the painting is finished.
Step 1: I did a pastel painting 12x18, as a warm up and then a sketch on newsprint for the general design so I could order my canvas.

Dunes-Morning Light, pastel, 12x18
This painting will be at Grand Gallery for a group exhibit, opening on September 24.
http://www.grandgallery.com/

I ordered a double primed (13DP) Belgian Claessens linen canvas.This is a very smooth surface which is a delight to work on. After my linen canvas arrived, I drew in the composition with charcoal. You can see the newsprint sketch under the canvas.