The wings took a giant step forward today after some serious time spent in the studio this morning and an additional shot at it this afternoon. Take a look at some of the feathery detail in the large image behind the small picture here. I’m really enjoying putting the shadows around the feathers, painting the [...]
Putting more detail into the feathers around the chest to pull the ribs out from the background of the wings. I’m painting the spaces between the feathers more than the actual feathers themselves, describing the shapes of the shadows around the object – describing the negative space that forms it. I’ll paint with a lining [...]
My weekend was tied up with promoting the University Art Department at the local Art Festival, sponsored by CLU for several years. We have a good relationship with the local community that is helped by our participation in these kinds of events. It’s enjoyable meeting people who are interested in coming to the campus and [...]
I’ve been using a piece of a well-washed textured towel to create dynamic feathery marks in the paint, then controlling the movement with a piece of an old t-shirt, very soft fabric. I guess people don’t imagine painters using rags for anything other than wiping their brushes, but I couldn’t paint without them as tools [...]
I got the right side wing done today, so both sides now have their third layer of paint. The layers are building increasingly substantial body to the wings that I can exploit later when I bring detail to individual feathers. I’m thinking hard about fundamental truths for studio artists these days, and I think I’ll [...]
Here’s a front view of the paintings taken with my phone, so the quality’s pretty poor, but it gives you the general idea. I’ve been chuckling about how much it looks as if Death is trying to catch the goose!
The left wing is taking shape now, with another layer of white over the brown texture layer, beginning to define the shapes of the feather layers and bring some depth to the surface. Ultimately I expect to put some blue over this work which curiously will probably work to make it seem whiter. The goose [...]
I started laying out the construction of the painting that comes after the Angel of Death: In between death and birth. I see the painting as a male and female couple within a circle at centre of the canvas, curled about each other in a yin yang arrangement. In the painting the symbol will be [...]
At last the base of both wings is down, but I lack the feathers between the skeleton’s legs. I’m particularly happy with the texture of the paint in this layer, because I know it’s going to give me a rich base upon which to place the feathers asI work to define them. The studio is [...]
I’ve done a base layer of Van Dyke Brown to the left wing, wiping it to make a soft feathery base which will become more defined as I put more detail into the surface. It’s looking a bit leathery and bat-like at present, which is enjoyable, but gives him an overly demonic appearance, which isn’t [...]
