Leena Pekkalainen posted an article on
Ancient Egyptian Art
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Jan 25, 2012, 3:49 pm
I have always loved cats (I actually have a cat website http://www.cat-breeds-info.com), and decided to paint one. And of course the thought came up how to combine a cat with Egypt. Well, the first thing that came to my mind was the Gayer-Anderson cat - perhaps the most famous Egyptian cat statue, w... Comment - Like
Leena Pekkalainen posted an article on
Ancient Egyptian Art
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Jan 17, 2012, 3:12 pm
This is an amazing stone statue, over 4500 years old... Do you not wonder the skills of the ancient artist... This is my attempt to do justice to this amazing piece. Scratchboard work on Ampersand board. I cannot begin to count those lines and nicks I made with a razor-sharp scalpel to do this a... Comment - Like
Leena Pekkalainen posted an article on
Ancient Egyptian Art
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Jan 17, 2012, 3:02 pm
And here it is - finally finished. Tutankhamon's Throne - 70 x 70 cm oil painting on Ampersand Board. This took me 350 hours to finish.
So many people helped me finish this piece - I wish to mention late Bob Partridge of the Ancient Egypt Magazine as one. He kindly gave me permission to use hi... Comment - Like
Leena Pekkalainen posted an article on
Ancient Egyptian Art
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Oct 23, 2011, 1:30 pm
I thought I could paint the pectoral in a day but it took two days. The ancient Egyptian showed the contents of a box or what was on a table by putting the object in question in the "air" above the furniture.
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Leena Pekkalainen posted an article on
Ancient Egyptian Art
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Oct 12, 2011, 2:38 pm
And here I have finished the collars of the royal couple...An amazing amount of details to be sure.
Next I shall work on Tut's belt, I think. That will take a full day of work at least.
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Leena Pekkalainen posted an article on
Ancient Egyptian Art
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Oct 5, 2011, 2:31 pm
Here I have painted both Tutankhamon's and Ankhesenamun's headdresses, wigs and face, and today I painted the king's body. That is one bright color and it sure took a while to get the right hue mixed...
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Leena Pekkalainen posted an article on
Ancient Egyptian Art
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Sep 13, 2011, 11:28 am
And here is the finished painting. Winsor & Newtom oils on finest hand-stretched linen canvas, 29 x 42 cm.
I wish to express my gratitude to the Werner Forman archive for their kind permission to use their photo as a reference to this painting. You can visit their website by clicking on the li... Comment - Like
Leena Pekkalainen posted an article on
Ancient Egyptian Art
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Sep 8, 2011, 2:27 pm
After this there are only two "stripes" of beads left to paint and then painting the background into a uniform color. (It is black, but I mix that myself, no tube black).
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Leena Pekkalainen posted an article on
Ancient Egyptian Art
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Aug 21, 2011, 1:08 pm
It seems the flaps of the nemes are still too wet so I haven't started on the false beard. So I worked on the left shoulder (of the pharaoh), where the necklace starts.
And a little closeup...
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Leena Pekkalainen posted an article on
Ancient Egyptian Art
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Aug 18, 2011, 2:35 pm
Now the nemes headdress is more or less done. Next I'll work on the false beard and necklace.
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Leena Pekkalainen posted an article on
Ancient Egyptian Art
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Aug 14, 2011, 8:49 am
This is where I managed to paint this today. I seem to get used to painting that gold in the shadows... Plenty on hair-thin different-colored scratches that blend into each other when seen from a distance...
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Leena Pekkalainen posted an article on
Ancient Egyptian Art
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Aug 7, 2011, 1:32 pm
And here is today's work... I worked some more on the headdress - finished the golden band on the pharaoh's forehead and painted four stripes of the nemes-headdress.
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Leena Pekkalainen posted an article on
Ancient Egyptian Art
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Aug 6, 2011, 11:13 am
Took me three and a half hours to paint the rest of the Cobra and those few stripes of nemes-headdress. The ancient artists sure had a liking to detail!!
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Leena Pekkalainen posted an article on
Ancient Egyptian Art
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Aug 1, 2011, 3:09 pm
Today I painted the ear. I may tweak it later, but this was all I had patience for today. Really - not the easiest thing to paint!
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Leena Pekkalainen posted an article on
Ancient Egyptian Art
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Jul 31, 2011, 3:03 pm
Here I have now worked on the left cheek. You can see the stipes of the nemes-headdress reflected.
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Leena Pekkalainen posted an article on
Ancient Egyptian Art
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Jul 28, 2011, 2:02 pm
I only had time to paint the left eye today, so I did that. It is so eerie to notice the eye in the mask has this reddish tone in the eyeball, just like in real life. I felt like Tut was looking at me with real human eyes...
Attached is also a pic of the brushes I have used in painting this.
... Comment - Like
Leena Pekkalainen posted an article on
Ancient Egyptian Art
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Jul 25, 2011, 2:20 pm
And this is what I had time to paint today. The nose, mouth and chin - and the area under the eyebrow of the left eye.
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Leena Pekkalainen posted an article on
Ancient Egyptian Art
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Jul 19, 2011, 3:46 pm
Today I worked on the right eye and the eyebrows. The brows and the "eye liner" are made of pieces of lapis lazuli, carefully fitted together so at a glance they look like one piece in real life. I wanted to bring out this puzzle effect.
I use a miniature brush and was wondering why it did not... Comment - Like
Leena Pekkalainen posted an article on
Ancient Egyptian Art
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Jul 18, 2011, 2:43 pm
I painted this much today. The right cheek is in bright light and this makes is almost colorless. It does have some yellowish hues but the photo does not bring those out. (Could not use flashlight on wet oil paint, the glare would have been too strong)
The left cheek will have much stronger ye... Comment - Like
Leena Pekkalainen posted an article on
Ancient Egyptian Art
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Jul 10, 2011, 10:49 am
I painted this far today - it is summer and so hot my tiny study is like a sauna. I had planned on painting the cobra on the headdress today, but it was way too hot to continue.
And a little detail...
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Leena Pekkalainen posted an article on
Ancient Egyptian Art
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Jul 4, 2011, 10:49 am
I am painting usually two paintings at the same time and once I had the horse portrait finished I was doing (check the links to my horse art blog) I started with Tut's Golden Mask.
Here is the preliminary drawing. I pre-stained the canvas and did this with yellow color pencil. Tomorrow I'll st... Comment - Like
Leena Pekkalainen posted an article on
Ancient Egyptian Art
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Jun 13, 2011, 3:48 am
And here is the background gold more or less finished - the pillar on the right is next, then I think I'll do the sunshade above the couple, and then the lower frieze. And then it is time to start with the couple. I am actually quite happy that I have managed to achieve a certain level of reali... Comment - Like
Leena Pekkalainen posted an article on
Ancient Egyptian Art
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Jun 8, 2011, 1:15 pm
And here I have painted the central part of the gold foil - it is rather strongly crumbled which explains the triangular areas of light.
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Leena Pekkalainen posted an article on
Ancient Egyptian Art
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Jun 5, 2011, 11:54 am
Here I have worked on the gold background between the Pharaoh and his Great Royal Wife. The Aten, those tiny hands and glyphs.
Here is a detail. As you can see I have painted with rather thick paint and looser strokes than I usually do - trying to achieve a painterly effect. After all this is a pai... Comment - Like
Leena Pekkalainen posted an article on
Ancient Egyptian Art
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Jun 4, 2011, 5:28 am
Painted some more of that goild foil to the left and under the chair. It really surprises me how much grey there is in gold. Also it reflects any color around it, so there can be surprising patches of color, depending which way the crumbled gold foil is facing.
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Leena Pekkalainen posted an article on
Ancient Egyptian Art
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Jun 2, 2011, 1:06 pm
Now the layering method is fine and delicate, but quite honestly it is now taking too much time. I have other paintings to finish too. So I just took the plunge and hopped in with color. Here I have begun with the left hand side.
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Leena Pekkalainen posted an article on
Ancient Egyptian Art
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May 2, 2011, 12:29 pm
Here I have continued to add the first layer of color to the central parts of the painting. (The right side is a bit overexposed, it is of the same color as the left)
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Leena Pekkalainen posted an article on
Ancient Egyptian Art
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Apr 21, 2011, 3:50 am
First spots of color... Actually a very very thin layer of oil paint spread out as thinly as possible and even after that rubbed with a tissue to get most of it off. That's the idea of layering - several amazinly thin layers of color on top of each other, each showing the layers beneath.
Th... Comment - Like
Leena Pekkalainen posted an article on
Ancient Egyptian Art
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Mar 27, 2011, 11:06 am
Well, now the underpainting is finally done... The main creases have been painted in, and some metallic shine added to Tut's kilt and Ankhesenamun's dress. Once this is dry, finally come the color layers!
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Leena Pekkalainen posted an article on
Ancient Egyptian Art
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Feb 6, 2011, 10:03 am
I just blocked the last fields of underpainting today and that sash sure took some work! Had to count each little speck of light that represented a jewl or golden bead. I still think I may have a few beads too many or too few - the reference photo didn't quite release its secrets...
... Comment - Like
Leena Pekkalainen posted an article on
Ancient Egyptian Art
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Feb 5, 2011, 7:13 am
I have been horrified with the news of how people out of sheer ignorance have been destroying the cultural heritage of Egypt. Archaeological sites robbed, destroyed artifacts and tombs... Horrible...
Still, I felt the need to paint Tutankhamon's throne some more - as a friend said: painting th... Comment - Like
Leena Pekkalainen posted an article on
Ancient Egyptian Art
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Jan 9, 2011, 7:12 am
And here is Ankhesenamun again - I painted her hands, feet and the basic form of the dress. Will have to add details once the paint has dried. I think the ancient artists did a great job at showing the sheer transparent linen dress and I hope my painting shows the same effect.
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Leena Pekkalainen posted an article on
Ancient Egyptian Art
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Dec 11, 2010, 8:04 am
I worked on the belt and the kilt of the pharaoh today. I'll leave the sash to another day - it is full of tiny precious stones and will be quite a job to paint. Next I think I'll start on Ankhesenamun so that Tut will have time to dry. Wouldn't want to smudge my work by accident if I now tried to p... Comment - Like
Leena Pekkalainen posted an article on
Ancient Egyptian Art
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Dec 6, 2010, 3:04 pm
Here I first painted the collar...
And today I painted his hands and torso and feet. He is shown as a handsome young man, even though we know today that he suffered from illnesses. But the ancient Egyptians could not show their pharaoh as anything else but ideal - anything else would have bee... Comment - Like
Leena Pekkalainen posted an article on
Ancient Egyptian Art
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Nov 28, 2010, 11:38 am
Took me seven hours to work the underpainting of the crown and the head. Obviously not all done - when I work with color I'll be putting the details in place.
Here is the whole painting so far...
And here is the pharaoh's head. The reference photo I am using here shows the face rather "flat" but I... Comment - Like
Leena Pekkalainen posted an article on
Ancient Egyptian Art
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Nov 14, 2010, 8:24 am
Now I have blocked the background - but it will not stay this smooth in the finished painting. Years have crumbled the gold foil of the chair and it is quite wrinkled.
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Leena Pekkalainen posted an article on
Ancient Egyptian Art
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Nov 6, 2010, 6:57 am
Today I lightened the pillar on the right a bit - it was dry enough. Then I painted the cartouches to the left of the pharaoh's head and blocked in the bakcground between him and the left pillar. Added some preliminary shadows there too.
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Leena Pekkalainen posted an article on
Ancient Egyptian Art
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Nov 2, 2010, 2:21 pm
Finished the underpainting of the pillar on the right - I'll wait for it to dry and then add lights to soften the colors which are now too dark.
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Leena Pekkalainen posted an article on
Ancient Egyptian Art
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Oct 14, 2010, 1:08 pm
And here I have done three painting sessions since last time. Almost done with the right hand side frieze of cobras. The "3D" effect is beginning to show, hopefully.
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