Monthly Archives: November 2010

Veins

Painting the marble veining has made the day entertaining and worthwhile. I’ve been studying the Pre-Raphaelite painter Alma-Tadema‘s work to understand how he did his delightful passages of white stone in his beautiful paintings of an idealized Victorian version of antiquity, and … Continue reading

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Cracks, Clouds, and Velatura

I’m pleased with the way the sky has been going. I added some Ceramic white to the tops of the cumuli, making them more substantial and a little fluffier than they were, again letting the top edges stay bright and … Continue reading

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Clouds and Architecture

Last night I visited Continental Art Supply over in Reseda to attend a special event there to meet representatives from major paint and art supply companies, among others Art Graham of M. Graham paint. He was, as always, charming company, … Continue reading

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Clouds

By using dense Ceramic White to create the highest fluffy tops of the clouds I’m able to scumble paint down, then rag it to soften the body. Once the softening work is done for the first mass I’ll repeat the … Continue reading

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Colour!

Having finished the en grisaille work I began working on the sky and ocean with a lovely Cobalt Blue from M Graham which seemed incredibly intense until it was ragged down to make the grey base coat emerge as the … Continue reading

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Six and a half feet

This is a significant day in the growth of this painting, because with the completion of the Raw Umber work on the legs I’ve pretty much finished with the en grisaille layer, with the exception of the cherry trees that … Continue reading

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Legs to stand on

Actually, if you’ve been counting, you’ll know that there are only seven legs beneath the girls. I’m not adding the eighth, which should be supporting the second attendant from the right because it would mess with the rather pleasing “M” … Continue reading

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Legs

After a slow start I’ve finally got back into the groove and started getting the legs into shape. I’m rubbing in the shadows with Raw Umber and working on building the sandals beyond the very sketchy outlines I have previously … Continue reading

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Fifth Dress

I’ve begun work on the dress on the left side, having laid down plenty of Lead White over the white dress worn by the Empress herself. I’ve let some of the background behind the Empress’ dress show through here and … Continue reading

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Values (legs and dresses)

Now that the legs have had a layer of value added to them they’re beginning to feel more substantial, and I’ve worked on the toes of the upper foot too, making some sense of toenails and repainting one of the … Continue reading

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