Karen Of Mountbatten-Windsorius

Back to posterised watercolour portraits today. I fancied trying to reproduce the outer spacey look of Miles Davis, so hunted around for a Star Trek still of a face against a dark background. I found this one of France Nuyen playing Elan of Troyius in the Star Trek episode of the same name.

For most of this one I followed my usual process for posterised paintings, working with the blue colour scheme (just like I did for Miles Davis) and spattering on some stars with making fluid at the beginning. I had some concerns before starting about whether there would be enough darks in my value plan and decided after adding the dark layer of quinacrinone magenta that these were well founded. So I went back to the Notanizer app and moved one of the sliders to give me ideas about where to add more darks and acted on its advice. Rather than only adding the magenta in the new darks, I went over all of them, leaving most of my darks with two layers of magenta. I didn’t want the magenta to obscure the two blue layers beneath it, so decided to throw on some water drips and some salt to add texture and maybe thin out the magenta a bit…? And, after leaving everything to dry and removing the masking fluid, that was me done.

Rather than just calling this one Elaan Of Troyius, I went for a more up to date name that reflects the attitude of entitlement that this character displays for most of the episode before Captain Kirk turns on the charm and makes her see the error of her ways.

This one doesn’t work as well as Miles Davis but it’s still a success in my eyes. The attitude and the conventionally attractive looks are both there. The composition hints at both a chess piece and a keyhole, both of which suggest interesting stories round the painting. If I could change one thing, it would be to soften the edges of the dark magenta shapes where they touch the face. One to remember for next time. Anyway, Elaan/Karen is up for sale, with the price to be found here.