A good day today, completing the preliminary en grisaille layer of all the figures. I will need to consider the background carefully, but the piece is well on the way. Obviously there will be a lot of cleaning up to do, but it’s a good start.
If you look at the grey layer on the bodies you can still see areas where the primer layer shows through.  This is great, as it adds warmth and richness to the painting.Â
These days I prefer to allow the first en grisaille layers to be fairly crude, which allows me to build the details up as the surface becomes richer. I retouch in dark colours as I go, continually fixing and reworking the image.Â
I lit my models from the centre of the image, as if the bowl is radiating light. This will become clearer as the painting continues and colour gets introduced to the piece. The bowl is red hot, so I expect to bring red light into the edges facing it. You have to be careful with reds because some of them creep through subsequent layers, so it’s smart to wait til the bulk of the painting is done, unless you’re really sure of where the red will sit.
