sustained inv #3

I created this piece with the idea of texture. I thought of dragons and what their skin would feel or look like in a ball of it. And through the idea of dragons, my mind went to royalty (probably because dragons are talked about in medieval times most often). So this piece is a mash of living dragons and kind of the whole theme of Medieval. 

I started with a sketch in my sketchbook and then went to canvas. I've used acrylic for everything but the pediments on the "crown" of the piece, where I used gold leaf. 

I became very obsessed with the idea of the backlit composition of the piece and how the light would hit certain things. The reason I tried a backlit piece was to one: try a different way light hits things, and two: because I wanted a reason to make my forms dark. When I think of dragons I think pretty brightly colored, and that didn't fit with my idea of Medieval Ages. The piece is slightly off-center on purpose to create a more naturalistic feel. 

sketches/references: