I’ll admit, there are a few possible projects in the works that have delayed the progress of this “Athena’ painting.  This is the nature of the Art business.  However, she has not been put on the back burner…though her front-position-burner may have been turned down temporarily to simmer.  As of today, the robes are finished, and I have made considerable headway with the marble wall on which Athena’s helmet is resting.

Marble is one material I have never painted before…though I have a major project in the works that will require huge amounts of the stuff.  I admit, this is my second pass over the wall, but I think I have figures out a few of the quirks.  For reference material, I used not only photos of actual marble, but images of paintings by Alma-Tadema, the undisputed master of marble painting.  Here’s a closeup of the wall behind Athena:

I promise immediate updates as they occur (I sincerely hope I didn’t just sound too much like Fox news) but I am working hard on the preliminary phases of a potential commission that I am really excited about…so there may be minor delays.

In the mean time, I welcome your comments and questions.

So, I’ve been working on Athena’s robes for the last week or so.  It’s been slow going, but I think the end result will be well worth it.  Here is an image of my progress so far:

More soon.

The laurel wreath is finished.  I’m considering painting the robes next, since I have good scrap for them, and their final color will most likely  have a dramatic effect on my color choices while painting the background elements.

…to the laurel wreath.  Obviously I had a little trouble with reflected light while shooting this photo, but as you can still make out, I’m about half way finished.  It’s so good to have real scrap to paint from.

I’m still test driving the color-string palette layout, and I’m still a fan.  For the leaves, I mixed up a neutral string, a yellow-green string, a green string and a section of blue-greens.  I also kept a little burnt umber, yellow ochre and ivory black on hand for good measure.

Once I complete the wreath, I’ll move on to the marble wall behind Athena.  I admit I’m stalling a bit on the wall while I track down some sort of decent reference material.