June - Week 4

Written 08/07/2025

Final piece!

Blodeuwedd and the Two Wizards

Oil painting of a woman being pulled from the earth with magic. She is covered in mud and crying, she is surrounded by flowers. Two men (wizards) leer at her smugly

The theme

The theme (very heavily inspired by Artemisia's piece) is of a woman desperately clinging to any autonomy that she can while men leer over her.

Thoughts on the process

The process was LONG!!!

Of course, it being an oil painting didn't help there - it has a lot more layers than any other piece that I have done so far (as you can seehere

I did enjoy doing the layers - utilising the scumbling method I described in my last blog post, I think I managed to use it to good effect - especially for the magical aura around Blodeuwedd (and also on the skin but that is less obvious due to the mud covering her).

Painting on a dark canvas was an interesting experience, and I think really helped me get a 'darker' look with needing to add lots of shading afterwards. I used it to some good effect, like I decided to keep her mouth in a 'void' to show off her agony. I do wish I had made better use of the shadows in some ways as I still think the painting is a little flat but I think it did help me have more depth than if it had been a white canvas. I probably should have done two layers of black but oil paint isn't cheap... It did lead to an interesting effect when the sun shone through it (particularly in the evening)

A partially complete version of my painting, the incomplete parts are glowing from the light behind — If I could have made her hair THIS colour that would have been amazing

A partially complete version of my painting, the incomplete parts are glowing from the light behind. The light makes the picture look very hazy. — She almost seems angelic here...

I had some *ahem* setbacks throughout this painting process. The first being that my cats are a pain in the neck and one of them WALKED on my painting while the paint was still drying! Here is the evidence of THAT

A partial view of my painting, an imprint of a cat's paw is visible — Paw print! (Thankfully I pulled her off before she did any more)

The second setback was my own fault, I was a bit careless and spilt the jar with the water - and some of it went on the painting! Thankfully it was just in one of the corners with not very much detail as opposed to the faces or the owl but I still had to wait for those parts to dry all over again.

A partial view of my painting, on a table with a wet patch and a pool of water on the floor — My cat was interested in the spillage...

A corner of my painting, partially covered in water — A closer view of where the paint was covered in water

My FINAL setback was again caused by my cat Teg decided that my painting would make a very comfortable pillow?! I kept having to push her off, until she eventually got the hint!

A partial view of my painting, with a tabby cat resting her head on it! — I can't deny that she looks adorable here (hence why I took a photo - and then promptly kicked her off)

Because it was a long process, I do feel like I may have rushed a bit by the end (I wish I had been more gradual with the mud). But overall, I definitely felt like I learnt a lot about the process that Artemisia herself would have used.

Comparison with inspiration

Two older men leer over a young woman (who is mostly naked as she is bathing) who is very uncomfortable and trying to fend them off

Susanna and the Elders, Restored by Kathleen Gilje. Based on Susanna and the Elders by Artemisia Gentileschi

As you can see, it is like a 'blend' of the two versions of Susanna and the Elders (and then obviously the Blodeuwedd inspiration). Like the composition vaguely matches the final oil painting but the expression of the central figure is much closer to the underpainting. The more visceral reaction really stuck with me I must say.

It does also clearly stray quite far from her original, since the setting and story is totally different and I added a fourth character to the piece and she is more centered than in Artemisia's piece (this is mainly due to me struggling with composition than any specific intent)

I will say I wish I had gotten myself a thinner paintbrush because try as I might, the finer details (eyes, hands etc) were a STRUGGLE to do and look a little... clumpy. This wasn't a stylistic choice (but if you think so go ahead) but a 'best I can do with what I have' choice (maybe that is a stylistic choice?)

Mine is obviously much flatter than the final oil painting (though I will say my phone camera made the painting look more washed out than it is in reality!) but considering I did this in a week in my spare time vs her doing this over months as her full time job I'm not going dwell on that too much ;P

Honestly, I felt a bit more disappointed when I immediately finished (I definitely felt like I could do more with it but I also have a million other things I need to do in my life) but after stewing on it for a few days - I finished it quite a few days ago - I am actually pretty happy with it. (This blog definitely helps me be more thoughtful and introspective on stuff like that!)