Second Layer: Mary and Martha

I have added color and detail to Mary and Martha, and now to a disciple as well. Additional disciples are being added or reworked.

Painting in oils is classically done in layers. A short version of this involves an under drawing or painting in grisailles, which is all one color—usually gray— and glazed over with final color. Leonardo da Vinci took this to the extreme: the Mona Lisa has as many as forty layers of paint in places, some of them just microns thin.

My method may be unorthodox, in that I don’t have the discipline (read: attention span) to finish the under painting before beginning the second layer. Indeed, parts of this painting are already under three or four coats, and I still haven’t determ

ined where all of the figures will be. In other words, I still haven’t finished the under painting.

It seems I’ve seen large buildings erected where progress at one end is a story ahead of progress at the other end. My canvas is in that state. I’m building on top of the foundation in some areas, and still laying the foundation in others. This is not a structural concern. The classic medium with which I coat an area before working over it again contains some varnish, along with oil and turpentine. This mixture is a time proven combination that allows layering to laminate properly, without separating.

I used to glaze the entire canvas each new day I touched it, but I don’t find this necessary, when I can only rework small parts of a large painting in a given amount of time anyway. It also saves material and expense to only glaze the part I’ll work that day. In some of these photos, you can see the edge of the glazing, as it is shinier. If the photo is taken in daylight, the top of the painting reflects the blue-ish northern light of the studio’s sixteen-foot high windows. Photos taken of the painting after dark are very yellow from incandescent track lighting. I haven’t bought expensive lighting for photographing large paintings, because I have a professional do that for me. That is a complicated art in itself.

At this point in the painting, I can continue to layer and detail the existing figures. But I want more disciples than I was able to gather for the shoot, and I’ll need to model two or three or four more. This I’ll probably do with more simple photography, which I’ll be able to do myself, because these figures will all have their back to the viewer, and will not need significant detail. In other words, the lighting will be easy to manufacture.

Anyone want to want to wander down to Pioneer Square and get draped in fabric?