Laying down tracks

Many people ask how I'm able to achieve such control in my paintings without the use of masks of any kind. My process begins with what I call "laying down tracks."

Once a painting is lightly sketched out with pencil (and I only sketch out the "landmark" shapes in order to get my bearings), the next level of detail is a first, light layer of paint that defines all the major regions of the painting and establishes the first lights and darks. This first layer is what I refer to as "laying down tracks" because the result serves as a guide for the multiple layers to come.