Hello
Gary your work is most beautiful. Try to work on a larger scale. One of the first things that I have noticed was that the result (impression) that you get watching the picture from your painting post, and which might look satisfying, looks very pale and monotonic from the distance of 5m, which is the point where it is seen by the spectators in a big hall. In the Stance Raphael in the Vatican you can observe this easyly by putting your eyes right where Raphael put his while painting and then watch it from the distance. I also try to built a character that will differ the Fresco from other paintings and demonstrate in some way (that I still keep looking for) the wholeness of this method. As for tracing, I just do not use it due to my adventures attitude and for all the reasons that you brought up.

I enclose an example that was made that way and which is a detail of my first big try.

Ilia
I have no reputation what so ever and all I do is attending competitions trying to present the interesting and somehow forgotten beautiful Fresco medium, and luckyly, maybe with divine (Trinira? Ellohim? Alla?) help, won it now for the 2nd time in two years. All the best
Yoram