That’s it! The last of the morning glory flowers and the leaves are painted in their respective green and blue, leaving only the wormwood on the right in its en grisaille state. I still need to paint the shadows and detail on the leaves, but once that’s done the painting moves into a new stage, with corrections and detail being the mode until it’s completion.
I’ve enjoyed painting these flowers, all thirty-two of them, but I must admit that I was beginning to feel the same impatience I did while  I painted the Angel of Death with those hundreds of skulls at its feet. Speaking of which, I’ve added a couple of skulls into the Empress’ clouds; difficult to see unless you know they’re there. I like to connect these recent paintings together by popping in little reference to each other, and I love to include little secrets into the compositions.
I’m going to have to lighten the yellow of the dress on the right to balance better with the pink on the left, which I like more and more. Also, the green skirt is going to get redesigned to be lighter and softer. I dislike its tweedy feel at present – it’s not in keeping with the gentler feeling of the other clothes in the painting. I’ll be looking at fashion websites again to find soft, layered designs that I can use as a more effective model for my own design. Again, I like those Pre-Raphaelite designs, but I want to be sure to remain contemporary.
