Underworld

 

Finally getting back to painting after a three week lay off....

This is kind of a study for a larger upcoming figurative painting of Hecate Greek goddess of The Underworld. While waiting to get the reference shots of my model Naomi Wood yesterday I thought I would get on with a trial of how I might do the background in the meantime. I played around with Midjourney for a while and came up with the image below which I used as a guide. It was originally tempting to leave as it as a monochrome as it was looking OK but that wasn't the point of the painting (I can always paint another monochrome one later) and wanted to try and get across the idea of an Underworld landscape underneath the sky where no direct sunshine permeated, an airless place dimly lit and mysterious. I included a Classical temple in the distance to connect with the idea of a Greek landscape. Look out for the eyes...

Oil on fine cotton 16" x 12"

There is a short step-by-step progress through this painting in previous posts on this blog.

Midjourney