Background

One of the challenges I have with a larger painting is seeing all of it on my easel. My custom easel is built with a vertical bar on either side. A horizontal adjustable hand rest is attached to each of the uprights. In order to see the entire painting I have to remove the vertical bars and do without my hand rest.
Once I have the background and rock roughed in, I will reattach the bars for painting the leopard and use my hand rest for details throughout the piece.

Here is the start of the background. I think I'll be playing with the right side of the painting. It appears awkward at this point and I'd like to have an easier flow to the piece.