I can resist anything but temptation

Couldn't resist going back and working on the under color for the oriental runner. Also suggested the carving on the chair atop the dais, which I think of as the throne.

Tweaked proportions here and there, and did a bit of detailing on various frames. That's technically cheating, because my method is to cover the entire canvas with a layer of paint before I move into details. Again, I couldn't resist. Ah. temptation I can safely succumb to.

Here's closeup of the lower left corner.

building form, waiting for saints

Added the columns and the marble wall that reflects sky. plus more of the wooden paneled seats on the right hand side.  The forms are beginning to emerge. The two blanks on either side are larger than life size paintings of saints.

This will go in the drying box for the weekend, and I'll pull out one of the portraits to work on. I see adjustments of volume and angle I'll need to make and a drier surface will serve me well. Can't wait for the pop of the red and purple oriental runner, and the incredible lapis lazuli bluesin the three paintings, but don't want to worry about smearing the wet surface with a careless swipe of the wrist. This is the main reason I keep several canvases going at once.

because you have to start somewhere

Started a new painting, working title Sanctuary. Mixed colors this morning, and put paint to canvas this afternoon.  It's small -  16x20"- and intense. No big fields of color anywhere, more like painting a mosaic. And not a face in sight (I don't count the two saints in paintings on either side of the dais, and God on a throne in a oval painting in the center). It will be a welcome distraction from the portraits.

 

Here's the initial drawing on toned and gridded canvas. My reference is a photo I took in Vienna.  That's our auxiliary puppy Maddy wandering through the studio.

 

Roughed in the marble floor, left side mahagony seat, corner bit of red carpet, and steps up to the dais.

To come - marble columns, carved wooden columns, marble walls, three paintings within the painting, a chandelier, gilded frames and moldings and an oriental runner.

Cabbage roses, striped sleeve and background

Mixed colors for the background and put the first layer on - I intend the right side to be darker than the left, and a sort of warm medium/dark green with brown swatches. This is still pretty transparent but I'm happy enough with it to keep going with that background palette.

Worked on the coat sleeve and the rose panels. Tweaked the nose of the mirror image. Just cheerfully plugging along. Looking forward to developing the bronze mirror frame. Considering changing the knit top in the mirror image to something that resembles the coat.
The big challenge will be painting the 60 year old face on the canvas with the right amount of distortion for the angle.

puddles vs portraits

Worked on faces and hair, but mostly the water's surface.  Love painting water. Next time I do H2O, I'm leaving the pesky people out.

Portrait of the artist

Here's the start of the triple self portrait. The mirror image - taken from a photo of me 40 years ago - is far from done, especially the hair and no background at all as yet. That's a little bunch of flowers made of fabric pinned to the sweater. I look forward to doing the detail on that.
I'll do the portrait on the right from a photo of me taken last week. I painted the linen canvas, because I'll leave it partly unfinished.
I worked on the coat today. Red, pinks and oranges in a sort of scumbled abstract, with cabbage roses.

Haven't decided about the background. Instead of a generic dark, I'm thinking it might be a mid value of burnt sienna with some sap green mixed in. Or I might go with ultramarine blue grayed down with cad orange

water abstracts

Worked mostly on the bodies under the water - like painting little abstracts.  Feeling good about it but longing to get far enough along to do the shimmer on the surface of the water.

Death Takes A Holiday

Death Takes A Holiday. Concentrated on the walkway and and shoes, pushed some darks and lights in the shrubbery. Varnish will make a difference in the darkest areas. Might give the sky one more layer.

detail -

progress on two portraits

I ended up painting another layer of water yesterday morning. Next time out I will begin the scumbling, and the time after that glazes. At the very end I will make those delicious fractal patterns of light on the surface. Meanwhile, I'll also plug along on the faces.

Yesterday afternoon I worked on the skeleton suit, skull mask, jeans and sneakers of Death and the Lion.

I'll be painting details of the ground cover alongside the sidewalk today, and add to the texture of the sidewalk itself.