When I get to this point in a painting, it's time for me to decide where the boundaries of the finished painting will be. Since the canvas is pinned to the wall, and the size of the canvas is larger than the painting, I often paint outside the edges that were the original borders. It takes about a month for the stretcher to be handmade to my specs and shipped from California. So I have to make my best guess in advance as to the finished size and go ahead and order the stretcher.
I do still have quite a ways to go. I can work on the skin of the right-hand figure while it's still on the wall, but I may need to wait until it's stretched before tackling more of the background.
Meanwhile, I've started on a new digital sketch for what will have to be a very large painting. I haven't decided on the final composition. This brings together a lot of images, places and people from previous work in the series.
