Tutankhamon's Golden Mask - the Cobra

Yesterday I painted the cobra (well, the tail is yet to be painted). It is 7,5 cm or 3 inches high and took me three hours. My miniature brush which had about three hairs when I bought it now seems to be down to two... Maybe it is time to buy a new one LOL :D. The detail photo is slightly blurry but I hope it shows some of the level of detail necessary for this painting.

Tut's Mask - Headdress

I painted this far today - it is summer and so hot my tiny study is like a sauna. I had planned on painting the cobra on the headdress today, but it was way too hot to continue.

 And a little detail...

Tut's Mask - Vulture on Headdress

Here is the first part painted: the vulture in Tutankhamon's headdress.

And a little closeup:

Tut's Mask - preliminary drawing

I am painting usually two paintings at the same time and once I had the horse portrait finished I was doing (check the links to my horse art blog) I started with Tut's Golden Mask.

Here is the preliminary drawing. I pre-stained the canvas and did this with yellow color pencil. Tomorrow I'll start with color. This will be traditional oils on very fine linen canvas.

Tut's Throne - background gold finished

And here is the background gold more or less finished - the pillar on the right is next, then I think I'll do the sunshade above the couple, and then the lower frieze. And then it is time to start with the couple. I am actually quite happy that I have managed  to achieve a certain level of reality with visible brushstrokes. Usually I blend blend blend... But now I decided not every stroke has to disappear. (Might explain the quicker process too...) :) Quite refreshing to see I have the courage to do that.

(Sorry the light does not reach the paintign evenly, so there are shadows and some variations to color)

Tut's Throne - central gold foil

And here I have painted the central part of the gold foil - it is rather strongly crumbled which explains the triangular areas of light.

Tut's Throne - the Aten

Here I have worked on the gold background between the Pharaoh and his Great Royal Wife. The Aten, those tiny hands and glyphs.

Here is a detail. As you can see I have painted with rather thick paint and looser strokes than I usually do - trying to achieve a painterly effect. After all this is a painting, not a photograph.