Morning glory emerging from the shaman's mouth
I like to make little games for myself when I’m working on repetitive forms like these morning glory leaves – today I decided to stop working on the right hand side of the painting so that I could set myself the goal of joining up the leaves coming form the shaman’s mouth with those close to her hand, so I began defining the shapes of the shadows of the plant as it passes over her shoulder, then turns back on itself to climb up the Emperor’s chair. Now I’ve started to create substance in the vines emerging from her mouth I’m aware of a compositional problem that I hadn’t noticed before; the vines spilling out of her mouth over her right cheek (our left) aren’t as abundant as those on her left, so I will probably add some leaves that will cover a bit of the hair below and next to her ear.
While working on the leaves I redid the hair and the shaman’s horns, which had become too patchy after working on the sky a couple of weeks ago, I added a little darkness to the features of her face too, so she looks a little fresher and stronger. I’m enjoying the way this is going.
Here’s a really good green man from Norwich Cathedral.
