I must get some spectacles for this kind of detailed close-up work. Very tricky, I must have deleted the interlace on the knife pommel three or four times before finally figuring out what to do – it’s a pretty small area, so fitting all the little ribbons into their correct places in the pattern is quite fiddly.
I’ve been drinking ginseng green tea which seems to help with concentration (and makes me eat less, it seems). In comparison the water flask was much easier, because you can’t see the whole pattern and it’s comparatively larger than the knife work.
I’ll let this dry then rework the surfaces to give them more solidity and substance, dropping shadows in the edges that face away from the sun, and highlights onto the high edges that face toward it. My plan for the rest of the day is to work on painting grass and daisies on the cliff behind the traveler.
