la Fiorentina, oil on linen on board, 2000, $3,000.I worked on this painting while I was living in Florence. I was working with Richard Serrin, an American painter who lives there, and who is an expert in Rembrandt's techniques. I started with a pencil drawing of the model, which took about six hours. The I plotted the outline of the drawing onto the support, which was linen on board. Then the painting was done in monochrome - raw umber and lead white.
After taking several weeks just working on the monochrome painting, I was allowed to start putting the colour on. The palette consisted of burnt umber, raw umber, vermillion, and lead white powdered pigments mixed with boiled linseed oil. Colour was applied in minute porportions.
I added an imaginary snake jewel on her headscarf to refer to the model's name, which was Cleopatra.
After taking several weeks just working on the monochrome painting, I was allowed to start putting the colour on. The palette consisted of burnt umber, raw umber, vermillion, and lead white powdered pigments mixed with boiled linseed oil. Colour was applied in minute porportions.
I added an imaginary snake jewel on her headscarf to refer to the model's name, which was Cleopatra.
Love this! It has a "eternal" feeling to it. I imagine it hanging in an art gallery for centuries and admired countless faces...
ReplyDeleteSuch excellent work! I love all your portraits posted here!
Beautiful work.
ReplyDelete