A drawing and Black paint!!!

Hey everyone. I have shown the start of another painting. As you can see I've started out with a drawing of the model, my wife Malissa, on tracing paper, then I transfer the drawing to a board already painted in black. And yes, this drives some people crazy such as my former painting teacher from college. He had two rules for me personally. No drawing with a pencil, and no painting with black as a back ground. I respected his class and didn't do there, but afterward, I've been all about black paint and pencils.
Why is there this rule that the background must be white? Some people paint the figure red before doing anything, but that was OK. Well, I've been happy with the paintings as they have turned out, and several costumers have them and seemed happy too, so I guess it all works out. I guess it's best sometimes to listen to what you think you should do. Everyone take care and have fun.

New Painting

Hi all! Well this painting didn't take me too long. It's titled Watching the Trees Sway. It's another painting based on the photos from the Anglin Falls area. It's a wonderful place to paint. All the big trees and rocks and the falls itself! I put a pic in here to show how I block off areas for trees so I can paint the sky and leaves around them. This makes things go faster and look more realistic. You have probably seen this before from painting books, but now you have seen it from me. I used masking tape, but if you do this, lay the tape on your shirt so as to make it a little less sticky, other wise it may hold too strong to your painting surface and not tear off right or pull away some of the paint you have already laid down. You can also get some of the lent and cat hairs off your shirt with this method too:) Everyone take care and have fun!