Background

I was talking with one of my artist friends yesterday and she said she starts her paintings with the subject first because it is the most fun.
That is precisely why I start with the background first. Finding the animals the most fun to paint I want to save them for later in the painting. Especially on a large piece like this my enthusiasm grows as I near the time to work on the caribou.

There will still be adjustments to the background and the whole foreground to paint once I finish the caribou, but now I can move into my element and start my caribou stand off. My plan is to paint the right group first, then the left group. Next I'll paint the smaller bull and finally the larger bull.