Drawing lines

INo problem sorting this one out for you Stephen, let’s give it a go! First and foremost, I’m pleased that you have put the projector away… hopefully for good, you don’t need them, there are better and more professional ways! A ground of burnt sienna, or any colour for that matter, needs to be reasonably transparent! If you plaster it on, you won’t get any benefit from the lighter canvas underneath, you need that transparency to come through. I like BS as a ground colour, put on correctly it has a slight pinkish hue to it. I squeeze some blobs directly onto the canvas, or whatever support I’m working on, then dip a rag into my turps, white spirit or whatever, and smear it on very thinly… even buffing it off slightly at the end. I’ve then got a good transparent but toned base to work on… with oils, this dries very quickly, an hour or so and you can start using it. Then, I’m my case, I use a small Round oil brush and draw in my composition with the same burnt sienna mixed with a touch of ultramarine. To draw in the grid, I use a charcoal pencil, fairly lightly, that does a good job generally. If you aren’t confident enough to go straight in with a brush, use a thin willow charcoal stick, it brushes off nicely as you start painting and leaves a ghost image.

Nothing to add to Alan's very full and helpful reply, other than to echo his advice to put the projector away.  It's not a crime to use one - in smug virtue, I can claim never to have done so - but in the end it instils bad habits which you won't want to acquire. 

In a way, I think it might make you feel you can’t work without it. But of course you can! We all make mistakes, it’s learning to accept them, analysing them, so you can move on. It’s hard to rely on your own judgements when there are all these “ outside forces” telling you you need this or that. Just sit and look at your work, take your time and take in what you like about it. We all go through this - we continue to go through this. If you feel you have the “ answer”, you haven’t! Art is a continuing process.