Skin and Base
Thank you for all the comments!
I\'ve finally got round to answering the questions about the skin and the base.
The colours I used for the skin are Midlund Flesh (P3), Gun Corps Brown (P3)(very similar to graveyard earth though), Scab Red (GW), Regal Blue GW and White.
The various layers were mixes of all or most of these colours - overly complicated I\'m sure but for the cooler shades I would mix the paint with more Regal Blue and Scab Red. For the warmer areas I would add a little Gun Corps Brown to the mix.
The highlights were achieved by adding white to these mixes. Lots and lots of milky thin layers until the top highlight is virtually pure white in some areas. That\'s the trick to making the skin look porcelain like - lots and lots of thin layers.
Sorry i can\'t be more detailed about the skin but my way of painting is quite random at the best of times and I did start this piece about 4 years ago.
The base was cast in hydra stone. For the mold I cut a cut a prescription pill container in half then used a rubber band to strap to together again before I poured in the plaster mixture. Worked pretty well, I just used a fine sandpaper to smooth a couple of mould lines out once the plaster had dried completely.
For the marble effect I first sponged on the base colour. Black White and a little Gun Corps brown(P3). Sponging this colour up by adding more white to the mix.
I then washed this down with various mixes of inks. browns and blues reds mainly.
The marbling itself is in various colours ranging from black through blue and some red also.
I roughly painted a squiggly line and then with a springy dry brush I lightly scrubbed the painted line from side to side - feathering it.
It\'s good to look at piccies of marble to see how the bed of the rock lays and what direction the streaks of colour go in.
The Spiders web by the way was just scored into the surface before i started painting the base.
The spiders are just tiny balls of green stuff that were applied after completing the paint work on the stone. Little legs were just painted on last of all.