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Category Archives: Tarot-related paintings
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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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
Folds and marble
I’ve been looking for sources for the two paintings, particularly the stonework of the foreground of the Virtues and the fabric of the dresses that will feature in it and the Empress. I’m very interested in Alma-Tadema’s work with marble … Continue reading
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
Posted in Empress, Life, Making work, Other people's work, The Cardinal Virtues
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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
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
Posted in Empress, Making work, Tarot-related paintings
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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
Posted in Empress, Making work, Tarot-related paintings
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