Tut's Throne - some more gold foil

Painted some more of that goild foil to the left and under the chair. It really surprises me how much grey there is in gold. Also it reflects any color around it, so there can be surprising patches of color, depending which way the crumbled gold foil is facing.

Tut's Throne - plunging in with color

Now the layering method is fine and delicate, but quite honestly it is now taking too much time. I have other paintings to finish too. So I just took the plunge and hopped in with color. Here I have begun with the left hand side.

Tut's Throne - the first layer of color on the way...

Here I have continued to add the first layer of color to the central parts of the painting. (The right side is a bit overexposed, it is of the same color as the left)

Tut's Throne: First Color

First spots of color... Actually a very very thin layer of oil paint spread out as thinly as possible and even after that rubbed with a tissue to get most of it off. That's the idea of layering - several amazinly thin layers of color on top of each other, each showing the layers beneath. 

This is about 70 cm x 70 cm, and if you look at all the yellowish (gold) color, I maybe used a paint daub the size of the end of a pin to create all of that (you know, those pins with a "ball" at the other end). I hope that gives you an idea how little paint was used.

Tut's underpainting - finally done!

Well, now the underpainting is finally done... The main creases have been painted in, and some metallic shine added to Tut's kilt and Ankhesenamun's dress. Once this is dry, finally come the color layers!

Tut's underpainting - all fields blocked

I just blocked the last fields of underpainting today and that sash sure took some work! Had to count each little speck of light that represented a jewl or golden bead. I still think I may have a few beads too many or too few - the reference photo didn't quite release its secrets...

But here is the painting now: background "wrinkles" (wrinkled gold foil) still not done, and the balancing of dark colors need to be done (Ankhesenamun, the table, the pectoral above the table, the details under the chair) once this is dry enough to touch. About 100 hours into this so far.

Then underpainting stage nearing its end

I have been horrified with the news of how people out of sheer ignorance have been destroying the cultural heritage of Egypt. Archaeological sites robbed, destroyed artifacts and tombs... Horrible...

Still, I felt the need to paint Tutankhamon's throne some more - as a friend said: painting this was alsos preserving our cultural heritage.

The underpainting stage nears its end, soon it is turn for color.