Freehand masterclass: Dali

Salvador Dali: Persistance of Memory

Today I wanted to do another quick post on what I have been up to lately with my painting.  Maybe we will even get into a little bit of an artsy-fartsy-discussion...








Well, after getting my army back from Adepticon (I had some friends drive it back to CO.) I was able to hit the paint brush again.  It took me a while to figure out what the heck I wanted to put on this vehicle.

After a while, My wife and I were talking and she said "why don't you do something a little more modern... Like Salvador Dali."  I love Dali so I didn't need much prodding.  After a quick google search I found a painting that would work: "persistence of Memory,"  or "MELTY CLOCKS!" as most of us call it.

As you can see in the original (above), I cropped the image down to just the tree and the clock.  I could have done the whole image but it is easy to lose detail when my 'canvas,' is so small.  Also, I seem to simply like cropping the image I am copying to focus on the element I am trying to convey the most... Don't ask me why.

Some noted differences: 
1. His blending is vastly superior to mine.  Im going to chalk that up to him being a master and me being... Well... Not a master.

The Emperor ponders the meaning of Life,
and Galactic Domination

2. My water in the background is barely seen on the horizon while his almost comes up to the branch.  I did this because I felt that without the hills in the background it would look like sky because you don't have the 'surrounded by land,' perspective that the mountains provide.
3. My clock has numbers on the 7,8,9 positions while his has numbers in the 3,4,5, 6 positions.  Put simply I couldn't do those numbers because my 'frame,' was completely in the way.

What does this art mean in the army?
everyone knows you can't have art without some 'deeper meaning,' lol.  My first two pictures were pretty obvious with meanings (I felt). The "Creation of Adam," is the sisters of silence saying that the Emperor is Man's creator.  The second painting: "The Justice Wall" was more like the sisters were portraying the Emperor as Justice itself and that his Justice was blind.  This painting is trying to say that time is nothing to the emperor in the pursuit of his goals, he care not if it takes 1 year or 10,000 to achieve his visions, they will be achieved. (see! semi-artsy-farsty-discussion)

So, that is that for now.  I am pretty happy about how this picture came out, though I think the blending on the square-thing could have been a little more smooth...Oh well.  All in all this took me the better part of the weekend to paint the whole vehicle from black to finished, not bad. Who knows, maybe I'll go back later and touch it up some... Unlikely.

What's next?
I only have one more tank to do for this army and the last one will have some sort Picasso, I just have to find the right one (Im pretty sure I know which one though).  Then I will have 2 classical pieces and 2 modern pieces.  Fun stuff.

Here are my freehand tanks so far for this Custodes/ Sisters of Silence army. Comments welcome!

~Duke