Last week, I did much of the gilding for the icon art I am creating. I forgot to bring a camera to class at the time, so I took the picture yesterday. Then I worked on the next step, which is beginning the underpainting:
The first thing to do was to fix the rough edges of the halo, which I did with a ruling compass. The background gets a shot of yellow ochre.
Then, I painted the darkest shadows of Mary's head. Byzantine painters worked from the darkest colours to the lightest. The paint is very streaky because it is thinly applied. As progress mounts, the colours will become solid.
Posts
