Working on a painting

I have been so busy! I am working on a custom painting for my cousin. (and working 40+ hours, cooking, needing to sew, spending time with Sean, ect) I love painting though and I am so glad that I have continued to do it after high school and that Sean encourages me to do it. It is a wonderful creative outlet. This particular painting is of my cousin's daughter Ashley. 

First thing I do is sketch out the picture.  I only sketched out Ashley because the rest of the picture is easy to do with a paint brush.

Then I trace it onto the canvas with graphite paper(So cheap and I can reuse it a million times!

                                                   

Then I paint the basic background colors  starting with the top left corner. Painting left to right to help eliminate smears or getting paint on myself.
Then I start background details doing the larger ones first. Like the sky then the waves. I have so much left to do but I feel like this painting will get done quick. After this painting I have 2 more custom orders so I better get off the computer and get busy!