Sorceress

Recently I moved back to Sweden, but managed to finish off some projects that have been on my easel just in time for a photo shoot before I left.
This project started off with a desire to create a compelling background for my characters, something that was mellow enough to push the characters without being too busy, while at the same time contributing to the characters story and still being visually interesting.

I mostly paint men, its easier to look at anatomy in a mirror, with myself posing I can at anytime change poses or correct a hand. So I decided to remedy that.
A reason for not painting and drawing fantasy style women is also cause I dont want to add to a common cliche. I wanted a powerful character with appeal, but without resorting to minimal clothing.

In this case I have used a medium I created specifically for this ideaso i could push around the paint with a rag while already dry (its a tincture of pure gum turpentine, stand oil, distilled damar and some fattening fast drying medium).

I had the intent to follow this character up with some smaller paintings of her minions, but that idea needs to sit for a while to evolve into something that works on its own as well as with this piece.

One thing I did find interesting with this was how I use refrence. Next time I will try to use a live model during my reference stage, used a stockphoto I paid to use and felt very limited by it.

So here you are;
Lady of the Deep, oil on canvas on board.