New Work - Rapunzel

"Rapunzel in the Cold Stone Tower" 5x5 alkyds

Rapunzel-taur is currently listed for sale on Ebay at

http://www.ebay.com/itm/140685519784?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649

WIP - 16x20 Centaur 'Braiding' Painting 4

Today, I made a few changes to the background.  I spent part of the day studying photographs of ancient Italian architecture and egyptian relics to get some ideas for the structure and decor of the rooms in this painting.  It is not my intention to mimic any one culture, rather, to create a plausible sub-culture that might exist if centaurs were real and living among human cultures of the ancient times.

    This family is obviously well off with a palacial estate and many luxuries.  Here, the mother is having her eldest daughter braid her mane and help her with her dressing for a night out with her husband when he returns home.  The youngest daughter entertains them with chatter and play.  She and her pets find the occassion very exciting and festive and as a result is always getting underfoot.

   I changed the doorway columns and wall structure and also changed the table and pictures on the right side.  I thought they were just too modern looking.  There will be a tapestry on the wall instead and an oil lamp on the wall behind the childs head.  In the back room I added a fireplace with a cooking pot, and, will have a brick wall mantle above it.  Floors are undecided, yet.  I'm leaning towards brick and stone floors similar to ancient Roman architecture, or, my original idea of woven rugs...have to wait n see.  Lots more details to be worked out on this .

WIP - 16x20 Centaur 'Braiding' Painting 3

My next step is to paint a monochromatic underpainting to work out the values and lighting for this painting.  This is not a step I normally bother with in my smaller work, but, this large, complex composition is purely fictitious with no reference outside of my imagination to rely on, so, I need the value study to help me work out these details. 

This is painted in using just white and burnt sienna. 

I added a little ultramarine blue and burnt umber to create some deeper dark values here for the back room and for detailing on the centaurs. 

I am not finished with the value painting, yet...just had to quit for the day.  I am not so much interested in creating every little detail in the monochromatic study, but, I do want to fully establish the lighting/shadows at this point and make sure it works well in the composition before I start adding color.