After letting Wolff's Requiem simmer for a couple weeks, it was time to start work on the actual finished product. This step begins with the building of the stretcher and the stretching of the canvas. I don't believe in the idea of using "standard" canvas sizes. I prefer to let the composition dictate to me what the proportions of my canvas will be. For this reason, I custom cut and build my own stretchers. Although I use the term "canvas" in a general sense, what I actually paint on is considered linen. Linen is a finer material than standard canvas generally has a tighter weave than canvas. As a result, linen tends to have a smoother painting surface. Linen fibers also tend to be longer and more durable, which means that they stand up much better over time than canvas fibers.

I had decided at the outset to try a new technique on this painting. Rather than painting wet-on-wet (as I used to do long ago), or painting a relatively thick secondary layer atop a base coat (as I have been doing for the past few years), I wanted to try a technique known as "glazing". This technique requires the application of several thin layers of paint atop each other with necessary drying times in between each layer. The result, ideally, gives richer, more vibrant colors.

My first coat would consist of nothing more than a monochromatic wash which would constitute a base color for the painting. Since my image would would rely heavily on cool tones and dark values, I decided to use Ultramarine Violet for my base.

Once my base coat was dry I was able to come back and begin adding "local" colors (the actual colors of the aircraft and background). This is the point at which the painting becomes an excersise in patience and planning. Working in glazes consists of adding subsequent layers of paint (mostly transparent) to modify colors below those layers. Before any layer can be added, the layer below must be dry enough to paint over. Anyone who has worked in oils knows that drying times can sometimes be maddening. However, depending on what layer I am working on, I use different painting mediums to speed drying times and to modify the flow of the paint.

Working in glazes also required a bit of pre-visualization on my part, and meant that I would need to begin with colors that were not exactly what I wanted my final color to look like. A good example can be seen in the "greenness" of the triplane's cowling below. I knew when I applied that color that I would eventually modify the green to become more of an olive-brown.