A Quick 'How Far We Can Go' Progress Report...

Well, it’s been another few days, and the underpainting is still not finished. My attention for the past week or so has been split between work on this painting and various other projects, not the least of which was installing ‘The Triumph of Daedalus Over Fate and Futility’ in its new home. However, while progress has been a little slower than I had anticipated, there has still been progressing! The once disembodied head and right hand are now much more comfortable attached to a torso and one leg, for example, and I also was able to refine some areas of the face although those refinements might not be readily apparent on a computer screen.

Notably, our young astronaut is still missing one leg, but enough of her is finished for the overall lighting scheme to be apparent, and so far, I think it’s working.  But it’s tricky to get a good photo because the dark, wet paint is so glossy. There is a trade-off between lighting the painting from above which creates fewer reflections but yields a dramatic drop-off of light from top to bottom, and head-on lighting which is more even across the painting but creates so many reflections as to make the image almost indecipherable. Unfortunately, the camera tends to exaggerate both effects, but I have found that it’s easier to ignore the vertical light drop-off if you can see the painting in the context of its immediate surroundings (as you do when you view a painting in person). So, rather than crop right up to the edge of the painting in this progress shot, I’m including the easel and some of the studio wall in the background.