Category Archives: Green men
Emperor
At last I can get started on the Emperor – the canvas has been ready to go for a few days, but there has been too much excitement around the New Romantic Figure exhibit. This morning a photographer from the … Continue reading
Frame up
What a treat it was to see the paintings in these frames for the first time! Although they were still only painted with primer this morning I could see that they will lift the paintings into an altogether different plane. … Continue reading
The View in the Black Mirror
I’d heard from Mike Adams that old masters used a black mirror to check out the value balance of their work, but although I’ve painted with a mirror behind me for years to help check on composition and cut down … Continue reading
Green Man
The Green Man is finished following a morning of detailing ivy and adding Pre-Raphaelite Rosetti’s purple to the shadows and hair. I added some highlights to the veins of the ivy leaves, then lightened up the shadows of the ivy on the shirt with … Continue reading
Man Goes Green
The green man finally got some of his proper colour, making him look quite different. A layer of Olive green over the background has made it drop back considerably with a vaguely leafy feel, while the ivy emerging from his … Continue reading
Ivy
Although ivy is the bane of my gardening life, for this little study for the allegory of the green man it’s the perfect plant. It’s impossible to destroy, totally invasive and undeniably full of indestructible life. It’s energy and tenacity is … Continue reading
Chin Skin and Weird Beard
I’ve continued with the flesh in the same way that I was working yesterday, building glazes and finding subtle transitions of colour and value. I’ve re-established the hair using Van Dyke Brown, a warm brown pigment made from a black … Continue reading
Getting Warmer
A pleasant afternoon visiting the Getty with Mike Adams and a group of my students didn’t leave a great deal of time in the studio, but after dropping off the students and taking a short break for a glass of good … Continue reading
Joe – a Second Layer
After having completed the wet white layer and allowing it to dry thoroughly I re-rendered the features of the face in a Raw Umber, this time without using any white at all. In this layer I’m only interested in capturing … Continue reading
Doing it Rossetti’s way
Based on what I saw in Birmingham (see this earlier post) I’m using a variation on Rossetti’s version of the famous Pre-Raphaelite wet white technique to create a study of Joe’s head as the first of a group of paintings … Continue reading