WIP Makers of Mischief

 

 

I was inspired to paint these three monks with mischief brimming in their eyes. I generally do an underpainting when I start a painting. I like to get my lights and darks established and then glaze over it with layers of color. This time I went alla prima, but not in one sitting (I just didn't have the time to finish it in one go). 

The most fun part was the background. I love deep dark dramatic backgrounds and I had initially said I wanted a brick wall as the background instead. However, it just ended up being distracting and I went with a rich, deep emerald. To be honest I had squirted out too much viridian and pthalo blue from the tubes so I needed to finish them. And so was born my favorite background in a long time!

I still have quite a bit of work on the face left, but it should be manageable. I hope my next update will be this as a finished painting, jubilantly dancing as I post that I have FINALLY finished it. Here's to hoping!