New painting - getting started

I'm getting ready to start a pet portrait of Peaches, a sweet, old dog that belongs to a colleague of mine.  I offered to do some pet portraits for an auction held to benefit Food Lifeline, a wonderful organization that feeds folks in our Shoreline and Seattle community.  Three people took me up on the offer, so it's time to get started.  I've selected a dark sheet of Mi-Tientes Touch paper.  I haven't used it before and I hope I like it.  I'll be using a variety of soft and hard pastels on this and I'll take pictures as I go along.