Yesterday my student, Janie, and I had a discussion on backgrounds. Janie likes to do her backgrounds first before getting too envolved with her main subject matter. I usually go straight to my chosen center of attention and develop it rather completely first adding just notes of backgound while I work. I find when I do that my back grounds remain secondary in importance and are more supportive to the composition. Backgrounds are akin to choosing a good frame. I believe you frame a picture rather than picture a frame. So many otherwise good paintings are greatly diminished by poor framing. Likewise, lack of attention the the background can be the demise of a painting.