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Category Archives: Empress
A Ribbon Dress Takes Shape
I’ve elongated the fingers and added some value to the elegant hand supporting the legs, then put the fingers of another hand at the top of the Empress’ calf (you can barely see the edge of it in this picture). … Continue reading
Posted in Empress, Making work, Tarot-related paintings
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Hand-held
Because I don’t think the fist shapes of the hands of the first attendant on the right are particularly graceful, I’m altering them to a more delicate, mannered position that I think is more appropriate to the painting. I want … Continue reading
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Cobalt
The sky has been painted gray in preparation for a coat of Cobalt Blue, which is the favorite (and most expensive) blue chosen by Alma Tadema for those intense, richly vibrant skies that set off the marble in the foreground … Continue reading
Legs and Dresses
The legs are beginning to take their place, presenting a number of corrections to the structures that are immediately behind them. I’ve drafted the outlines of the top leg and sketched the bottom edge of it; tomorrow I hope to … Continue reading
Addressing the fabric
I’ve built the structure of the plaits in the centre girl’s dress, which I think is reminiscent of the beautiful work Burne-Jones did in his The Golden Stairs, completed in 1880. Looking at all the Pre-Raphaelite books has had an effect on … Continue reading
Posted in Empress, Making work, Pre-raphaelite
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Fabric
Working on the dresses was initially a matter that caused me a little worry, but I quickly found myself enjoying creating folds and shadows in the fabric that makes up the first drapery in the painting. I want clothing that … Continue reading
Little
I fixed the marble wall on the left side background, the perspective of which I had rendered incorrectly, then worked on completing the hair of the girl on the right hand side, moving from the hair to editing the new … Continue reading
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Armed
I’m much more satisfied with the central figure now, following a little effort to complete the hair and the hand on the Empress’ shoulder, which acts to place the head of the centre figure in context with the other girls. … Continue reading
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Sky Based, Figures Moving Along
A great day in the studio, fully engaged in good, productive work. I’ve base-coated the sky in  a medium grey as preparation for a layer of Cobalt Blue (yep, I ran out of that, too, must get more paint in … Continue reading
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Foundations
My withdrawal symptoms have abated, having received four tubes of Foundation white from Steve at Continental, and I’ve put down a layer of dense white over the entire bottom half of the painting, which means that all I need to … Continue reading
