Caroline used a photo of 3 puppies, but the ideas were to be used on location so you can capture the tones and light of the moment.
First she planned the construction of the painting using artistic licence to alter the height of one of the puppies to help the definition and balance, this also helped with blending the tones. Consider the background, different coloured backgrounds can enhance the colours of the paint and also can be used to reflect in the subject of the painting. Green can bring out reds.
Caroline started with an eye as the focal point then built up the light colours, orange and yellow, moving to dark area and blending the colours to give many different tones. Then using dark red and dark green to create the browns, remember the light areas on the nose and which way the light is falling, add in the shadows, make notes, enough information to paint the subject in a weeks time by just referring to these plans which could help with creating a more natural finish.