Latest masterpiece in the making

i've begun laying down the groundwork for sky and mountain scape with my latest untitled painting. it's become regular practice for me to use newsprint, newspaper, or even pages of magazines to create a sense of texture and depth. once this dries in a few days i'll begin layering on paint and building up the background. in the middle and foreground will be busts of buddha, the focus of the piece.

oil paint on newspint and canvas, 24"x36"

 UPDATE 4.9.12

 

in the end i opted to take away, rather than build colors and layers of paint. i also decided to do one up close image of buddha.

UPDATE 4.13.12

i can't seem to capture the brightness or detail shapes within the headdress in a photo as the sun continues to hide behind clouds. The lips will are also yellow/gold.