• due to an accident, I'm working with my left hand here...
  • ...laying in the initial proportions, using the grid method...
  • ...now copying upside down, it's easier to see any mistakes that way...
  • ...letting it dry overnight...
  • ...working some more on it, doing corrections...
  • ....final details...
  • ...the finished piece (for now)
  • This is the beginning of a 36x36 canvas... I transferred a "Mandelbug" from the computer onto the canvas...
  • ...the coloured "layers" I am adding are left over paints from other paintings...
  • ...each "round" takes quite some time...
  • ...the green, red and purple are from my new "Vibrations IV"...
  • ... I can paint up to 3 "rounds" per day...
  • ...any more means I might get a cramp in my hand!
  • Phew - finally done! Fractal Geode, in my 2014 Gallery
  • I projected this image onto a small canvas to experiment with skintones/faces...
  • I felt that by using the portrait of a person I do not know it might be easier...
  • ...since at this point I'm not trying to make it look like the actual portrait...
  • ...I'm just playing around with laying a bit of a foundation for the facial structure, using the colors that were "at hand"...
  • ...time to let it dry...
  • ...laid some more color on top, defining the eyes and working on the hair and scarf...
  • ...Whoa, in this session her mouth changed unexpectedly, don't know what happened there... fixed some of the neck/ear area and more detail of eyes...
  • ... here I was playing with textures, then ran out of gas and let it sit....
  • ...I had a vision of the shaman or pilgrim , but it was a handsome young indian brave...
  • ... but when I started with the actual image with some leftover paints on my palette, it took on a life of its own, as it usually happens...
  • I don't like the way she's developing, I should have just left it the way it came out in the first sketch...
  • ... funny, when you don't copy a face from an actual person, your imagination takes over...
  • ...what's with this small mouth sitting there disconnected??
  • ... and unfortunately, it keeps changing... I am learning a lot about faces and their respective shadows/lights here...
  • Well, she looks like just that - an image badly translated from my mental idea of this amazon-like woman....
  • ... after this session I realized that I had to shorten the nose/mouth part, bring it closer to the eyes, and the EYES!!! How hard can it be, for crying out loud!
  • ...Worked on the staff and her face again, I can get completely absorbed into this, but still it eludes me... somehow she's turning into some kind of fish/reptilian sort of being...
  • ...I felt that the fabric was also something I could be playing with, trying a few new things out...
  • ... it's fun playing with all the different textures... skin...fabric...the staff...
  • ... and she keeps changing... I'm observing images and my own face to learn where around the eyes there is shadowy parts, because the eyes still don't look right...
  • ... millimeter by millimeter I'm moving the nose/mouth area higher, and the shadows need to be changed, so the whole face seems to be looking in exactly the same direction!
  • ...worked more on the staff and changed the color of the scarf, the eyes are getting more and more into the right direction, they are haunting me...
  • ... I had this almost magical moment when working on this... all of the sudden I understood what they mean about the old masters just doing layer after layer... still, there is much work left to do...
  • Traced the outlines of a pic of Trombadori's still life onto canvas and underpainted with leftover paint from my palette...
  • ...after it was dry, I laid down the main colors...
  • ...now it's time to play with more subtle glazes
  • ...I like how the pomegranates are coming along...
  • Here, I'm experimenting with copying (???) work, starting with a general underpainting and a few dots to show the basic layout...
  • ...after it was dry, I'm trying to find the lightest colours and "dot" them in...
  • ...using a Q-Tip for a while, then switch to an old brush...
  • ...5th or 6th going over... correcting shadow lines...
  • This is quite likely the most ambitious piece I have attempted to-date (started in 2015)...
  • ...inspiration was a pic of the ceiling of an iranian Mosque...
  • ...in the beginning I was able to paint several "rounds" per day...
  • ...which slowed to two, then one per day....
  • ...each 'round' involves going over with white to set the design...
  • ...which I "see" by squinting at the print-out of the image...
  • ...then going over it adding the pink... then again with the blue...
  • ... when the rounds are done, I go over each color again to fix all the sloppy parts....
  • ...after that, I go over them AGAIN with a thin outline of black to define all the designs...
  • ...you can see that the entire piece (36x36!) is pretty much painted with a "0" brush...
  • ...it is excrutiatingly hard and the muscles in my hand often need a break..
  • ...at this point I am lost (in the design) and decide to let it all dry, so I can add the shading....
  • ...I am expecting that after that I should be able to continue outwards...
  • ...it is quite nerve-wracking to go over a perfectly good painting with a dark glaze...
  • ...although you can wipe some of it off, it could potentially ruin the piece!
  • Phew, success! So far I have put 20 painting days into it...
  • ...since my proportions were not exactly as in the photo, I decide to make it a fractal....
  • ...meaning, I am 'repeating' some of the rounds...
  • ...after being kinda 'stuck' for a few weeks, it is finally flowing again...
  • ...going on and on... at this point I don't even manage to do a "round" per day per color!!!
  • ...my hand cramps up after working on this for a few hours...
  • ....I've done the 3 colors a couple times going around...
  • ... can't do the shading until it is dry enough, and still no end in sight...
  • Another practice piece to copy - Lawren Harris's waterfall (2016)
  • ...letting it dry before fixing some spots...
  • ... I think it's done
  • I'm trying a painting in the style of Chase Langford's Chroma series (2017)...
  • ...he underpainted every "row" with successively lighter colors...
  • 3rd or 4th one....
  • ...trying out one of Bona Valbona's paintings, changing the background to a more feminine color...
  • trying out one of Diane Lenard's pieces (2017)....
  • ...it's really hard for me to stay "vague" and not go into detail much...
  • ...I have to let this dry, I painted on a dark canvas, which was a mistake, I'll have to lighten it up some...

A demonstration of how a painting develops and comes to life