Category Archives: Empress

Whiteout

The base white is down on the lower half of the Virtues painting, beginning the work in earnest. The gesture of the brush marks follows the contour of the wall and the slabs of marble that will be on the … Continue reading

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Stanhope

John Roddam Spencer Stanhope Love and the Maiden (detail). Here’s a detail of a fabulous example of late Victorian painting. She’s fantastic, isn’t she? I found her quite by accident at the Legion of Honor Gallery in San Francisco’s Golden … Continue reading

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Once blue, orange rising

I relined the blue drawing of the figures with graphite, having discovered that the pigment was not particularly strong once I started work with the base coat. The completed figures have been sealed under a wiped out layer of Iron … Continue reading

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Blue feet

I continued drawing the Empress, getting the feet onto the canvas, then editing the figures to make them a touch more graceful. Altering figures is a risky business because if you do too much they stop being cohesive and anatomical … Continue reading

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Blue maidens

A lovely afternoon with my painting students led to a few hours of concentrated drawing on the Empress canvas, continuing the work from my initial foray and adding the majority of the other figures to the composition. I’ve edited out … Continue reading

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Sealed

We had a great day in the studio today, with the Virtues canvas completely sealed with Iron Oxide Red and ready to paint tomorrow after a good night’s drying. Casey did most of the work, seen in the right hand … Continue reading

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Fresh canvas

I’ve replaced the angel with this lovely new canvas, preparing to draw the pencil version of the Empress (the Angel of Birth). I decided to give the Angel of Death a rest for a while simply because I’m not particularly … Continue reading

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Here we go

Today was crazed, in a good way. It started right off the bat at nine by setting up for a photo shoot for the Virtues painting, with my student Devon modeling for the four cardinals, Temperance, Fortitude, Prudence and Justice. … Continue reading

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More canvas

I’m swamped with administrative work for the new semester, so painting has had to wait for a short time until we get started. I’m particularly looking forward  to beginning my Life Painting and Drawing classes, because working from a model … Continue reading

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