The sword is coming along, based on a fabulous samurai sword loaned to me by our lovely costume designer, Lolita Ball, who is simply delightful. The alchemical Queen Amelia looks dramatic and intentional now, having acted to behead the king, now she has to transform herself in order to join the alchemical king in the process of conjunctio, when the two become one alloy. the beheaded element transforms into the pure essence, which I will soon add to the painting as a pure white flame, placed at 1:1.62 on the canvas.
I rendered the head (a self portrait) en grisaille, ready for development when this first layer has dried. Fast and thick, this work will look good as I build the layers of colour over it.Â
Owie… that’s gotta hurt!!! Very unexpected and a bit frightening – however, now that the king in the process of conjunctio, having lost his head, he can move on.