Background planning

I usually plan better than this but since the portrait photo is quite recent and I was rushing off on a painting trip, I had created a drawing only of the important female image as the background in the real photo was basically a blank plastered wall (boring). So here I am figuring out what might frame her image. One of the things I found fascinating in the Baltic region was the thick wall stonework and interesting windows... So I added that to my drawing. Thank goodness I had a ruler with me for the window elements. I started painting the stonework by "messing up the stones using the misted fabric and light value inks of slightly varied coloration.

Addition of filler material between the stones...

Finally texture to the filler for interest.