Michael Pearce

The Magician increasingly gains solidity as the Raw Umber rendering materializes over the roughly sketched outline and white base painting. The sketched wand will take a decorative spiral twisting around the handle, while adding detail elsewhere will make different features sing. I’ve chosen to make the wand long so it corresponds to the sticks with the cloth attached to them.

I’ve asked Sam, my model, to visit the studio to see what I’ve done so far and to have a little time for live reference to her so I can find idiosyncratic characteristics in her features.

I’m thoroughly enjoying the work, and looking forward to the next layers, which will bring whites mixed with Raw Umber to the flesh, followed by the velatura layer that will make her look more lively.

The Magician has a face. Strong featured, with high cheekbones and a strong mouth, she’s full of character.

This has been very enjoyable, even exciting at times. I love painting faces, shifting the balance of expression by making very small changes to the shapes, subtly altering the character of the person. I also get a great deal of pleasure in the way the first draft of the face alters as the next layers alter and modify what’s laid down in the early stages. In this painting I’m interested in how the hard edges of the stripes are going to balance with softer skin and hair.

Hands and feet remain.

I’m using a Raw Umber around the rocks to re-draw their edges and place a shadow on the right of each rock, following the key light that will be constant throughout the painting. The flags are all redrawn, and I’m pleased with the way the composition is coming together, and looking forward to getting the water on the left side of the painting in place reflecting the sky.

I’m thoroughly enjoying the work, especially now that the lines of the splendid black and white striped suit are beginning to make an appearance. It’s challenging to get these parallel lines in place correctly so that they follow the folds of the cloth properly, and really rewarding when it comes  out well. I’ve fixed the area under the arm where the jacket sweeps back towards the Magician’s body, now filled by a lining and the curve of the hem of the cloth.

The landscape occupied by the Magician is taking shape quite quickly, with a gradual shift from darker foreground to lighter horizon painted with a Foundation white and a little Cremnitz mixed with some Raw Sienna and Raw Umber. I’ve worked to make areas of the ground a little patchy, with variation between warmer areas with a little extra Raw Sienna contrasting with grayer areas where the Raw Umber is more prevalent.

I have painted over the flags and rocks a little bit, which is fine, because the brush-strokes pass over the previously established white that I painted fairly thickly, so I will be able to find these partially concealed areas again and re-work them. There are two areas that will need closer attention in the landscape, first the area under the Magician’s arm, where I inadvertantly painted the brown where her jacket should go, and in the middle distance on the left of the painting, where I will place a pool of water.

It’s been very difficult to find painting time this week with the work of the new semester taking up a lot of time – it’s time well spent that I don’t regret, but it means that painting has to wait.

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