With colour the foliage looks more lively.
Another layer of subtly coloured pink and green grays to make the stick more convincing.
The colour spreads further down the canvas, reaching the horizon line today. I need to work in areas because I want the highlights to blend with the darker greens in this stage, so I’ll move further down the painting later.
I worked with lovely glazed transparent Sap Green and Raw Umber with dashes of Grey Green for some variety and highlights. First I glazed areas of the leaves with the Sap Green, then popped in a darker mixture into areas mostly on the right side where shadows should fall more substantially. To make the darker colour I mixed some of the Sap Green with a bit of Iron Oxide Red – another beautifully transparent paint which is the same hue as Burnt Sienna in M. Graham’s range of oils. The deepest area of shadows between closely positioned leaves were emphasized with the Raw Umber, blended out with my fingers. I must work on the skin on the legs now, to introduce shadows and redraw the toes on the right foot.
The flowers are bright white now. I was tempted to put a glaze of colour over them, but I’d better be patient and do them all in one sitting.
I’ve added a picture showing the stick that I worked on a couple of days ago. I’ve added subtly coloured pink-grey and green-grey to make it appear more natural. Nature is seldom monochromatic.
I almost forgot to mention that I painted the surface of the moon on the little ball dangling from the stick, so now the Emperor is clearly the emblem of divine rule on earth.
