After some deliberation, I added soft messy bangs to the woman's hairstyle. Changing her hair had changed the face, making it appear longer than it was in the original reference photo. Bangs fix that problem (a trick hair stylists often use to make a long face appear broader). I also added a ring to her finger, featuring the kanji character for "joy".

When the drawing was finished, I taped it face down to my working surface - a heavyweight, cold-pressed Crescent illustration board, pretreated with three coats of gesso, and masking tape to create a 1" border. Then I went over the lines with a 2H pencil, pressing carefully but firmly enough so that the graphite lines would transfer to the canvas. Some people seem to think this is a no-no because the graphite will mix with paint and make it muddy. But it shouldn't be a problem if you apply yet another (very thin) layer of gesso over the linework. It should be thin enough to let the lines show through, but thick enough to cover and bind the graphite. The surface becomes virtually smudge-free afterwards.

The beginning stages of my paintings always involve a lot of precise, tedious, repetitive work. It doesn't really faze me. I guess I should consider myself blessed because I have so much patience when it comes to art... which is maybe why I have so little of it in all other areas. Oh well, you can't have it all! ;)