'Laundry Day' Preliminary Sketch

Today I finished this preliminary sketch of a self-portrait I will be painting calling Laundry Day. It will be completed on a fairly large canvas, and so I want to be well prepared before beginning the final piece. I am happy with the composition, as well as the colours for the most part. Though the colours will mostly like be toned down quite a bit to reduce the somewhat cartoon-y effect.

The background, on the otherhand, always gives me the most trouble. More often than not I have to go back and redo it (even in this sketch I did). The left side of the background will definitely be lighter because it's the wall the light from the window is hitting most, while the right side is facing away from the light and will therefore be a darker shade of the left side. I am undecided if I want to add anything else in the background - though I have a feeling I will probably keep it simple in order to bring attention to the figure and the ball of laundry. The curving lines are actually fairly important in the background as the can deter or attract the viewers attention to various parts of the foreground. I will probably play around with the direction of those lines a bit further before starting on the final piece.

I'm excited for Laundry Day and I hope it turns out as imagined. If it does, I will be submitting it in the Kingston Prize portrait competition this year before the deadline in May (held only once every two years). What an experience that would be!