The woman of the present antiquity.

 I begin the piece by defining the form and covering up the painting already on the canvas. Something found at Emmaüs. A painting of what looks like was a French town.
I try my best to lay the new layer of paint as thinly as possible so textures won't later interfere with my painting. I know that everything is going to be covered at some point so getting perfect colors isn't really an issue.



To get the form I use a gel pen to make an outline to see how things will be laid down. I try to error on the side of thin to allow for the paint to cover it up.

I continue laying down the form. Getting a feel for where everything is going. How the figure interacts with the setting.

 Turns out that the leg was a little too far out so I fix that and start adding shadow. I had a little bit of orange left over so I play with adding a halo.

 Layering up. I start to add some of the finer details that I won't have to mess with too much later on, ie. hair. Playing with the subject and idea I draw some ostrich feathers in white chalk.

 I talk with Jessye about adding one line from some of her poetry to complement the piece. I have the idea of painting the negative of the letters. I continue playing with the halo. Mixing gold paint with different acrylic mediums. Blue seems like a good color for the ostrich feathers.

 More detail is added. She gets her eyes. I usually wait until the end of the piece to add eyes, but I wanted to see if I had the facial proportions correct. I start her tattoos. I use graphite instead of ink to make them not stand out too much and look slightly faded, like all tattoos do if they aren't brand new. I take inspiration from the work of Guy le Tatooer for the style on her chest and hand.

I felt that the letters had been lost. Something about dark on dark not really working the best. I use some of my new silicone tipped brushes for the white. They don't blend as well and add some texture.