Once the gesso is completely dry, I begin painting. As this is is done in washes, I prefer to work on the table at this stage. The hair-dryer is to speed up the drying process and it also blasts the wet paint into the 'valleys' and leaves the 'hills' a lighter colour.
As I mentioned before, I always have an image that I start from but already there is a slight variance as the blue I chose when I started was bolder than the one I had in mind. Why? Because when I looked at the colours it jumped out at me. I try not to question these moments.