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Category Archives: The Cardinal Virtues
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
Base layers
With the sealed canvas dry and ready for the first painting work to begin Joe, Jason, Devin and Casey started to put down the base en grisaille layer. Because my goal is to have the painting feel filled with the … 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
Seasons
My new colleague Bela Bacsi gave me a nice little pack of playing cards from Eastern Europe, including these lovely images of the four seasons which of course relate to the four paintings that I’ve been working on: Winter = In Between … Continue reading
Posted in Making work, Sources, The Cardinal Virtues
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Students Blogs
My students are going to keep blogs of their experience of working on the big painting with me; here are a couple of them: Joseph Clarkson Tuan “Jason” Nguyen I’ll post the others as they are made. I think it’s … Continue reading
Posted in Making work, The Cardinal Virtues
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