This evening I made use of a short hour and a half to get started on the faces in the Empress painting, with good results. I’m pleased to get started with the work – it’s good to get back to painting the figure again after painting the skulls and bones of the Angel of Death for so long. I’m trying the Pre-Raphaelite technique of painting Raw Umber over the white I put down yesterday, which seems to work well, although I’ve always avoided this pigment because of its tendency towards greenness, which I will have to get used to. The face will need lots of work to make it right, with obvious problems around the mouth and eyes that will need care.
Joseph helped with the Virtues, beginning to add general light blue-grey patches to the white marble. With another ten layers or so, it should start working well.
