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Category Archives: Empress
Hands on
I’ve been working on painting the first and most important of the hands in the Empress painting, working in Van Dyke brown to establish shape and shadows. The value is too dark at present, but will lighten when I introduce … Continue reading
Posted in Empress, Making work, Tarot-related paintings
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White and White
I’ve spent my studio time painting skin, walls and dresses white. Having woken up early and excited about painting the architecture in the painting I managed to get to the studio by eight o’clock, getting directly into the work (after … Continue reading
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Architecture
I’ve been figuring out the shapes of the architecture within which the girls stand; a circular setting made of marble sunk into the ground, surrounded by cherry trees in the raised planters. Getting the curves of the stone was interesting … Continue reading
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Fixing faces
My student Casey Hickman has started his blog, documenting his work on the Virtues mural, which now has a blue-grey sky based in over most of the upper half of the canvas. As expected with a painting so large, it’s coming … Continue reading
Hair
Using white dragged into wet Raw Umber to create lines and folds in the fluid surface, I worked to produce hair for three of the girls. It’s not all completed, but it’s going well and I’m pleased with the image … Continue reading
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Detail
I spent a long time working on getting the faces right, improving value work and re-rendering errors of proportion. I didn’t get to the head on the extreme right, but the others went fairly smoothly until I started getting tired … Continue reading
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Fifth Head and a Visit to Hockney’s Studio
In the studio the last of the heads is roughed in, leaving me free to get onto the figures and the background. I’m beginning to feel more comfortable with a shape for the space they’re in, inspired in part by … Continue reading
Posted in Empress, Making work, Other people's work
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Faux Marble and a Couple of Girls
I’ve continued with the marble, adding a soft glaze of Iron Oxide Red around the breaks between the slabs, ragging off and lining the cracks, letting the rusty colour dry, then re-lining the cracks with Raw Sienna, softening the line … Continue reading
Stone and the Empress
I’m really enjoying painting the marble wall, which is going to work nicely with the addition of two or three very light transparent glazes of warm Iron Oxide red and a blue to give it some vibration. I need to … Continue reading
First Face Emerging
This evening I made use of a short hour and a half to get started on the faces in the Empress painting, with good results. I’m pleased to get started with the work – it’s good to get back to … Continue reading
Posted in Empress, Making work, The Cardinal Virtues
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