The Mosque Of Wadi Mektoub - stage 5

Another glaze of Phthalocyanine Blue on the sky (this photo does not get across the intensity of this blue/green sky), finished off the mosque and sand dunes and then put in the buildings of the village. 

The Mosque Of Wadi Mektoub - stage 4

Painted another glaze of Phthalocyanine Blue on the sky and spent the rest of the day working on the mosque, which still isn't quite finished. The blue in the sky is a more intense green/blue than it appears in this photograph - it is a grey afternoon here and the light isn't that bright in the studio for photography.

The Mosque Of Wadi Mektoub - stage 3

Today I painted the first glaze of Phthalocyanine Blue on the sky, made a start on the mosque details and put in the underpainting for the sand and rocks at the base of the mosque. I also decided to have some buildings on the other side of the river below the mosque as they would logically be there and it gives further interest to that part of the painting.

The Mosque Of Wadi Mektoub stages 1 and 2

Seeing as I had such a good response to "Departure Of The Bash Kadin" and due to it selling so early I felt that it would make sense to paint a similar one as I sensed this one could have sold at Illuxcon to another collector. I will be painting this one in very similar colours to the last one, the main difference being the orange area of the boat's sail is replaced by firelight shining through the back of the tent in the right corner. 
These Orientalist paintings are very much fantasies in that I paint them as though they were in an Indiana Jones movie; i.e. impossible juxtapositions of Middle Eastern elements that somehow relate to Western people's fantasy of Arabian Nights-style scenes and situations. I also give them cod Orientalist titles as a nod to the original inspiration of Victorian era paintings by Gérome etc etc. Wadi Mektoub does not exist: a wadi is (in the Maghreb for instance) a river and Mektoub is Arabic for happy happenstance like the Turkish word, Kismet.
Stage 1 was painted in the morning with a thin bristle brush using my usual mix of Burnt Sienna and Winsor Violet thinned with Lukas Number 5 Medium so that it was dry for the afternoon session when I gave it a tonal wash of the same colours mixed with turpentine. 
Stage 2 was today's session when I put down the first layer of colour on the sky and other areas of the painting.

Departure Of The Bash Kadin sold

I am pleased to announce that "Departure Of The Bash Kadin" has sold before the paint had dried just like two other recent paintings heading for Illuxcon. The same nice lady in the USA who bought "Nénuphar"has bought this one and I am happy that both can be exhibited at Illuxcon in October before she takes them away at the end of the show.

Departure Of The Bash Kadin

On a bright moonlit night deep in the desert a a boat quietly leaves the quay of a riverside village. In the background looms the Sultan's Palace ethereally lit by the overhead moon from where the figure at the front of the boat has come, she is the Bash Kadin, the First Wife of the Sultan. Why is she leaving at such a mysterious time of the night? Perhaps she is escaping the clutches of an evil monster, maybe she is on a secret errand for the Sultan......
This is another painting heading for Illuxcon, this time a moonlit Orientalist picture based on a blue/green - red/orange complementary colour scheme. I wanted the palace (and mosque) to be mysteriously lit by moonlight and have composed it with The Rule Of Thirds very much in mind although it is offset by a centrally-placed light source and reflection. 19 3/4" x 19 3/4" oil on canvas. There is a step-by-step progress though this painting in previous posts on this blog.

Departure Of The Bash Kadin - stage 7

Pretty much finished off the village so I got on with blocking in the boat including making it bigger compared to the sail and then I painted in the water on either side of the reflection. I need to paint the moonlight reflection and the boat at the same time so I left this for the final day's work.