Michael Pearce

Drop shadows make a huge difference to the way an object sits within a painting. Now that there’s a glaze of Raw Umber around the morning glory and some highlighting of some smaller leaves the plant seems more substantial. Although not included in this photo the ivy has benefited from the same treatment, feeling far more substantial and three dimensional. The addition of five flowers makes the plant complete, and adds a nice symbolic note to the painting aside from the heart shaped flowers, for the pentagram generated by the five pointed star is a beautiful geometrical shape embodying the golden ratio, and was a symbol embraced by Pythagoreans and early Christians as a sign of divinity’s presence in the natural world.

At the bottom of the photo there’s an Artemesia Wormwood plant growing in the space made by the corner of the marble slabs. There’s no shadow to its upper right, or around it where the light should be blocked, and consequently you can really see how the new work sits above the surface of the marble when a drop shadow hasn’t been added. Once this is dry I’ll add a glaze of Raw Umber to create its shadow and the plant will feel much more convincingly in place. With luck I’ll be able to put a glaze of green over the morning glory leaves and flowers tomorrow, then add a touch of blue to the mixture to colour the wormwood its characteristic pale, almost coral hue. I’m slightly apprehensive about putting the colour onto the flowers because they’re so intensely bright in nature that they may dominate the painting if I’m true to them.

It’s gloomy in the studio these days with solstice upon us, bringing the shortest day of the year tomorrow, unusually accompanied by a full moon.

Morning Glory is perfect for this painting, with its heart shaped leaves, wonderfully colourful flowers and reputation as a plant that opens doorways to other worlds. It’s a fragile flower that lasts for a short time, but one that blooms profusely upon a vine that spreads fast and grows all over the world. Although I haven’t yet started on the right hand side I’m considering subtly putting a vine around the Empress’ ankle, as if it’s holding her back from passing through the pillars.

The ivy and the Morning Glory are both rendered in grey at the moment, although I’ve roughly added white veining into the ivy leaves so there’s a bit of variety to the painted surface. I’m looking forward to getting some colour onto these leaves, which I think will add a great deal to the painting.

Now that the yellow dress is mostly complete I’ve begun adding the shadows cast by the Empress onto the bodies beside her, imagining where the light falls. The orange dress needed a lot of work, with much of it dropping deeper into the painting, while the top remains lit. I’ve yet to put shadow into the right side of the yellow dress, which is still a little wet.

I’ve added a pale blue pattern of seven-petalled flowers to the white dress around the hem, which is pretty hard to see but adds an extra layer of delicacy to the dress. I really enjoy these details, which aren’t difficult to do, but add so much to the painting. The pale blue shifts into a slightly greener and lighter hue as it goes to the left toward the light.

The base work for the pattern is complete, and a couple of my students said “I’d wear that dress” so I think I’ll let this dry, lighten it up a bit, then pop a bit of yellow into it to mellow the highlights into the rest of the fabric.

The drop shadows beneath the arms are working well to establish the yellow girl and the Empress in three dimensions, and I’m looking forward to adding shadow elsewhere in the painting to gain increasing solidity to the figures.

I’ve worked on the white dress, adding a glaze of Foundation White over the surface to soften those brown shadows back into the fabric, making the dress feel cleaner and brighter. I put highlights of bright Ceramic White around the hem, making that edge pop out a little. I want to figure out patterns for a subtle lacy border to this dress, but it will have to be carefully done so it doesn’t attract too much attention. I’d like it to be one of those features to the painting that you only notice if you are really paying attention, so it becomes a treat for gallery visitors.

This is working well. I’ve created a pattern over the surface of the dress to break it up more effectively than the simple layered structure it had before. It’s a lot of work, taking plenty of time, partly because the pattern recedes and advances from light to dark, which means I lose track of where I should be painting brown or white.

I’ll continue with the work tomorrow, then add some yellow when it dries, popping in some highlights later on. Originally I wanted to avoid making this dress too complex for fear that it would draw focus from the feet coming forward on the right side of the painting, but on reflection I think that it’s going to drop back again once it’s lightened up and unified with the rest of the dress.