Doctor Zaius

It was always going to happen. Today’s subject is Doctor Zaius from the Planet Of The Apes TV series, played by Booth Colman. After painting Galen and Urko in three values using Artgraf and crystalline watercolour respectively. I had to follow up with Zaius to complete the chimp/gorilla/orangutan set and to paint him in three values using a third medium.

Three values? A different medium to Artgraf and to crystalline watercolour? This sounds like a job for a posterised watercolour painting in the trippy scheme. So that¡s what I did, following my normal process for such paintings. There are a lot of mid tone marks in his hair and beard. I thought about masking all over these areas and adding mid time marks at the very end, after the unmasking, but decided to try leaving gaps in the masking fluid instead, and why do you know? It worked! I guess one thing I did differently was to start adding the dark layer of French ultramarine before everything else had dried, partly in the spiritvi& experimentation and partly because I had a table booked at the Rose & Crown. And this experiment seemed t9 work too: some of the blue edges round the eyes and nose look softer than normal.

This one looks great to me. It’s like an exercise in lost edges and negative painting. And so much is left to the viewer’s imagination in places. The good doctor is up for sale, with the price to be found here.