Bibliography

Here's a list of some of the great books I used to guide me along the way.... The Craftsman’s Handbook “Il Libro Dell’ Arte” -Cennino d’Andrea Cennini Translated by Daniel V. Thompson/ Color: A Natural History of the Pallette -Victoria Finlay/ The Da Vinci Notebooks -Leonardo da Vinci/ Fashion in Costume 1200-2000 -Joan Nunn/ The Artist’s Handbook of Materials and Techniques Third Editon -Ralph Mayer/ Looking at European Frames a Guide to Terms, Styles, and Techniques -D. Gene Karraker/ Materials and Techniques of Medieval Painting -Daniel V. Thompson/ / The Practice of Tempera Painting Materials and Methods -Daniel V. Thompson, Jr./ Italian Renaissance Frames at the V&A A Technical Study -Christine Powell -Zoë Allen/ Beneath the Surface The Making of Paintings -Philippa Abrahams/ Mona Lisa: Inside the Painting -Jean-Pierre Mohen -Michel Menu -Bruno Mottin et al

The Finished Painting

The final framed varnished piece!

The Schoneberg Mona Lisa

Well, here's the old girl, pretty much finished minus the browned varnish layer she'll get once dry. The last weeks have been spent detailing and matching up Mona's face and hands. I settled on a technique of using a smallish (1/8") round brush and laying in barely tinted layers of highlights and shadows with cross hatching-styled strokes. I was inspired to try this by a cartoon Leonardo left of the infant John the Baptist from his Virgin of the Rocks altarpiece, which shows Leonardo's typical style of using very light crosshatching to define forms. It is a technique that yields much control over placement and density of shadows while keeping the paint layer thin and flat for subsequent layers of color. It seemed like something Leonardo may have done.

Video?

Well, let's see if this works...it's a slideshow of varioous stages of Mona from the transfer of the cartoon until now...

Here's the Latest!

This is a shot of Mona as she sits right now... I've begun distressing the gold on the frame using steel wool, sandpaper and an agate burnisher; rubbing and abrading the gold away as needed. I'm formulating a colored glaze to rub over the frame to lend a "dirt in the crevasses" look to finish the antiquing. The frame and the back of the panel are nearly finished.

The paper framing tape has been applied to the back of the panel and distressed. Just a couple touches to finish that up! The painting, when framed in the flexible frame and the decorative frame combined, weighs in at 35 pounds! Crazy! I'm looking into having a display case made, so that the back of the panel is visible while the painting is being displayed. Next, however, will be to place Mona back in her temporary flex frame, which I use when I'm actually applying paint to panel, and beginning the final passes at detailing the dress!

She's More Than Just a Painting...

Well, I figured I'd work on the back of the panel and the frame, probably finish both, then move to the front of the panel again and focus on finishing the painting. What have I done? Well, I used a Dremel and wood chisels to cut two recesses for butterfly braces in the back of the panel. One of the recesses has a walnut butterfly glued in place. Linen canvas pieces have been glued into the other recess and along the crack in the panel. At least that's where they are on the original. My version has a crack in the top of the panel too, but about an inch or so to the left of the one in the original. Unfortunately, the bracing location doesn't stabilize the crack in my version at all, but I'd rather be true to the original.

I also replicated some of the markings on the back of the original panel. The H and the number 29 are done with conte crayon and pencil, respectively, as well as the la Jaconde hand written script at the top left of the back. There's a red stamp inventory marking on the lower right that I created artwork for and had a rubber stamp made. Then it was a simple matter of stamping the image on the back of the panel. There's also some printed text near the butterfly recesses. I Photoshopped artwork from a scan of the back of the panel and printed out the text. Then I soaked the paper in strong coffee and dried and cut the strips to glue in place on the back of the panel. Once the glue dried, I used an Xacto blade to distress the paper to match the original. I'm waiting on the delivery of 2" wide white gummed paper tape to adhere around the edges of the panel and rip and distress accordingly. The addition of the tape and drilling insect holes in the back should just about wrap up the back of the panel.

The back of the panel was previously aged using a strong tea solution as well as a solution made from soaking steel wool in white vinegar. For the frame, I bought 23K gold leaf and applied it to the previously stained frame. I had also applied a thin irregular coat of red bole under the leaf. I used water gilding to attach the leaf. Once the frame was completely leafed, I used steel wool and a burnisher to scrape and wear away the leaf to match the original frame. Still working on that. I printed out photos of the real frame to guide me on the antiquing. The photos below show the aging process so far.

AHHHH! Finally a Chance To Work On Mona Again!

A break from set duties gave me a chance to get a little more paint on Mona and to begin the steps to complete the frame. I'll have to post shots of the BACK of the panel, too, as I cut in a recess for the walnut butterfly in the back that keeps the split in the original in check My panel has a split going in ALMOST the same location (it was a happy accident, really, not planned.) Hopefully, the butterfly on my panel is in close enough proximity to the split that it'll secure that on my version. So, what have I done? I continue to fine tune shading and detail. Mostly in layers of glazes on the arms and dress. I printed up enlargements of the Prado Mona Lisa because the background is less obscured than the original. I've begun to map out the detail in the landscape, which in the original is pretty hard to decipher because of the darkened varnish. Once the details are laid in, I'll mute everything to bring it into the realm of Leonardo's painting. I also have started darkening the veil on the left of Mona's face, and darkened the chair and lower portion of the painting. Oh, and I've drawn in more deatil in the veil on the right side shoulder. As for the frame, I applied a layer of American Walnut stain to replicate the exposed wood tone on the original frame. From this point, the frame will be gold leafed, then aged and distressed to match the real frame.

Mona Was Framed!

Well, after months of anticipation, the incredibly all hand-carved frame arrived! I'm very pleased and excited to have it finished! Or...unfinished, really. I still have to stain, age and gild the frame, and of course finish the painting! And finish the BACK of the panel as well...but it's getting there, and I think the frame is an amazing addition! Thanks so much to Ian Agrell and his great team!

And Now For Something Completely Different...

Look Familiar? For those of you who have seen the real thing, you may remember the Renaissaance-era frame that the Mona Lisa occupies at la Louvre. This is a fantastic section done as a test by Ian Agrell and his team in northern California. It's all hand carved poplar, and I think it's a great recreation of the original. Ian will be carving the frame, as I determined I was pretty inept as a wood carver. I want the frame to reflect the same concept as the painting. That is to say, I made an effort to get poplar panels to paint on, hand ground my own oil paints and tried to re-create Leonardo's technique. I originally was going to sculpt and cast the frame, but I want the frame to be as close to the original as possible, too. The frame that holds the Mona Lisa is a renaissance era frame that was all hand carved. In researching frames from that area and era. I determined that the frame is most likely hand carved poplar, which was either gold leafed or painted. Ian does beautiful work in recreating moldings of various types and took on the project as well. I'm looking forward to the final frame!

New developments!

I found an incredible new supplier of lapis lazuli pigment, Master Pigments, who grind their own pigment from raw stones and refine according to Cennino Cennini's formula. The paint made from this pigment is AMAZING! I repainted the sky and started cleaning up areas of the dress. I've added in vermillion shadings in the face as well. I'll clean up SO much more in the final version of the painting. I also have glazed in highlights on the chest and face with lead white. I'll continue to develop the painting as I go. I also have contracted with a master woodcarver to hand carve the frame! I should be getting a sample soon. I'll be sure to post pictures as soon as I get the sample carving!

Closer and Closer!

Here's yet another Mona picture!

Mo'Na!

Continuing to build up shadows with glazes of color (mostly black and italian umber) slowly!

A New Picture!

Hey! I HAVE been working on Mona! This image shows the current state of the panel. Mona's been waiting patiently as I've been out of town working for some time.

This shot shows layers of semi-transparent and transparent glazes on the panel especially in the face. I did two layers of white lead mixed with a little vermillion to mute the underpainting and give a luminous surface to the flesh tones. The white lead mixture and the subsequent glazes of italian burnt umber and black were mixed with sandarac resin and walnut oil to make the glazes.
I'm continuing to refine the underpainting on the rest of the painting as well as the finishing on landscape areas. I've found a supplier of Lapis Lazuli that I'm happy with, and will likely repaint the sky once I have new Lapis paint ground.

By Degrees...

I haven't posted an image recently. but as the painting is in a state where one has to look rather closely to see what progress has been made, I figured there wasn't much to show. I've eliminated most of the bad lines in my underdrawing at this point, and I'm close to laying in the white underglaze on the skin, to even out the underpainting further and increase the smoky look of the shadows. I've continued toning the dress and arms a bit, and am in the process of completing the shadowing on the threads of the embroidered neckline of the guarnello. I also have refined the white sleeve top that shows through the silk at Lisa's left shoulder (viewer's right)

I'm still quite unhappy with the Azurite and Lapis pigments, and may try regrinding them in a mortar and pestle to refine them further. the graininess has made it difficult to paint the mid-ground landscape well, and I'm not happy with the Lapis glazes in the sky. it's like painting with sand!

Just a quick update as to what the state of the painting is so far. I've decided that the underpainting of the face and chest needed to be refined further before I did the white overglaze, so I wiped off the glaze I did previously, and am in the process of obliterating some erroneous lines that were drawn in right at the beginning. Once the underpainting is more correct, I'll reglaze and begin laying color on to the face.

I'm continuing to refine the landscape by Lisa's right shoulder (on the viewer's left). I'll also begin adding more detail to the right side of the landscape soon. If you look by Lisa's right shoulder, you can see where I've begun to indicate where the layers of silk veils will lay over the landscape.

Color: A Natural History of the Palette

Just finished reading a fantastic book by Victoria Finlay called Color: A Natural History of the Palette. It documents her international journeys to find the original sources of rare, natural pigments. Fantastic!

Closer!

Here's a close-up shot of the same mountainous area I took a picture of before. I've refined the colors and shapes further, and am getting closer to the final look of the painting. Miles and MILES to go, but the experience is fun and very challenging!

You can see in the right corner of the image that I've added a glaze of lead white over the flesh areas. I'll add more to the lightest areas of skin to help blend shading even further before I start adding glazes of color and shadow. I've also begun to indicate the embroidery on the guarnello.

Animation of Mona Lisa Painting step by step

The video as uploaded isn't as high-res as the one I made, but, you get the idea!

Small Progress!

I've been working a very small portion of the landscape by Lisa's right shoulder...thought I'd put up a quick pic of the mayhem.

As I go, I'm more and more impressed with the level of detail Leonardo achieved (and I was plenty impressed before!), and the infinite subtlety of all the aspects of the portrait. Everything I'm laying in now seems very heavy-handed by comparison...my aim is to keep layering until I've acheived the proper tonality and subtle smokiness, etc.

Color!

I've started laying in glazes of color in the background. I'm hoping to get the landscape well in hand in the next couple of weeks, so that then I can begin on the dress and parapet. Once all the non-skin areas are in hand, I'll begin laying in the many layers of glazing to complete the flesh tones, hair and veils.

I'm having trouble with the azurite glaze in the sky...the paint is grainy and it shows badly in a transparent glaze. I don't want to substitute another color as the azurite is a beautiful ultramarine color with a slight greenish haze that makes it quite unique. I'll be writing Natural Pigments to see what they recommend as well as regrinding the paint.