I believe it was a couple of months ago that I saw a program on PBS either Nova or another program where they were discussing Leonardo da Vinci's work and history. The interesting thing was he would draw out the projects on paper before he painted them on his wood panels. Therefore, before he even attempted the Mona Lisa on her wood panel, there were several drawings of her lying about. The program even showed on the wood panel that her right arm had been moved up a few inches. Not that you can get close to the original Mona Lisa to see the repositioning of her arm, but that is what they showed on the program.
I find this very helpful to be able to plan a painting before you actually put it on the canvas. I have seen this before, but never really thought to do it. I know there are many people who like to paint just from their memory and know where everything will go but if you are like I me I tend to forget and make everything too large.
