Leonidas

[Jon Heptonstall]

Smashing work John.
what's a Grecian urn?
Jon.

[Mr Bowcat]

what's a Grecian urn?

Not much without any arms. :tears-of-joy:

[Steve Jones]

Wonderful work on the base John. Looking forward to seeing how you tackle the bust

P.S Thanks for the weather update:thumb2:

[JR]

Wow !:thumb2:

[Steven000]

Interesting setup John
That painting on the base looks very nice
Kind regards,
Steven

[Richard48]

Mighty fine looking urn.I think its rather nice and different and unique.
Excellent work.
Richard

[Jim R]

Hi John
Love the base. Something different.
Jim

[wotan]

Thanks gents

Now starting on the painting. I like to under paint in acrylics and finish in oils. So to start with here is my first session of skin under painting. As a contrast to other styles I am not concerned hardly at all with colour at this stage. I am trying to define the form of the model and create tonal and temperature patterns. The whole of this will be covered up in later stages with oils. Oil paint has the unique property that it is generally translucent, so some of this paint will show through the top coat, and provide depth and interest to the final effect. Notice that the brush strokes are very open, that is to say not smoothly rendered. this will contribute to the final effect and is a hallmark of my approach to flesh painting. Anyway....

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Note that the eyes are only roughed in at the moment

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I will let this dry out before the next layers.Just in passing some people are put off by the supposed long drying time of oil paints. I use Alkyd oils which will dry very quickly, relatively speaking, and can be worked over within 12 hours.

John

[Tim Marlow]

Mate, that’s fantastic! Apart from anything else, it explains where the warm and cool areas of a face are better than any art text I have tried to decipher....

[wotan]

Thanks Tim.

OK he has now been oiled up, as it were. Of course a photo cannot show all the subtleties that oils allow but I think the general effect is there. It is still shiny so more will become apparent when I apply the mat varnish.

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John

[Guest]

Masterful work John.

[wotan]

Thanks Peter

Moving on to his helmet and his shirt. Now both of these are red according to the box art. Red is often a tricky colour to paint since you cannot lighten red without it becoming pink or orange. here is a simple glazing technique that the renaissance painters mastered. Simply under paint the red area with a monotone black and white tonal base. This takes a little work however you don't need to get perfectly blended finish since it is all going to be covered up. When the base is what you want and is dry, I usually do this stage in acrylic, simply splurge a crimson red all over it. Since the oil paint is fairly translucent your under toning will show through giving an acceptably smooth and toned finish. Here is how I attacked the plume and his shirt.

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You can always rework some of the shadows if you want to. I often add a bit of Alizarin crimson to the scarlet in some places just to vary the red a little.

I hope this helps
John

[JR]

John.
That's Sir is exquisite.
The eyes look quite real, and the skin too. Love the muscle definition.
The other John.

[Tim Marlow]

John
I think that face is as good as anything I have ever seen, just superb...

[Steve Brodie]

that base, wow