An oil painting long in the making

This oil painting was long in the making because of that which so often happens - life. It was near finished when something interrupted, and then had to wait for two weeks until I could give it the last few hours it needed. It might have taken anything between fifteen to twenty hours to paint, I am not certain.
For the background, I chose a photo of the Grampian mountains in Aberdeenshire, with a view that, on a clear day, allows you to see as far as out to sea. I thank Yiling Wang, my friend on that particular roadtrip, for her help in taking that photo. From it I used the background colours and the general proportions of the lady, but not the lady herself. She is from my imagination only.
I especially liked painting the dress, and the lower part thereof. I am not entirely happy with the area around her bust, but I had been working on it for too long, and decided I needed to let it be and work on something else. The hair, also, was a joy to paint. I have never tried making hair quite as detailed with oils.

In conclusion, I am happy with the painting and I think it shows that I have progressed in my painting, when I compare it to other paintings. There is still a long way to go to make it as photorealistic as I would like it, but that is what practice is for. I am, however, not entirely happy with the picture you see here - I had to opt for a somewhat reddish-grey tint to the originally white sky, in order for the photo to better reflect the true colour of the dress and the stone wall. I suppose I shall learn how to fix that in Photoshop, but for now, it is not too important.

The painting is called "Grampian Sidhe", after the mountain itself, and after the Gaelic word for Fair Folk (please note that this is what she is - not a fairy, the diminutive), or elf.

What do you like the best with the painting? What do you think could have been done even better?

Two possibly surrealist paintings

The assignment to which these paintings belong was one where we had the choice of four styles: Abstract art, Surrealism, Expressionism and Cubism. Regarding these, I'm only friends with Surrealism, but I tried again my hand at Expressionism. It did, of course, fail, being labelled by my teacher as Surrealism anyway.
The picture to the left is not taken in ideal lighting conditions, and I doubt I'll take another. It was an attempt at Expressionism, and I care not much for it. For certain, it does say a little of what I wanted to express with it - spiralling emotions, hence the name of it. Especially the spiral in the hand, holding your feelings in your hand open for all to see, but ready to be squashed. It is made from acrylics, didn't take too long, and was painted on a rather small canvas.
The other, however, is another story entirely, and one I am very proud of.
It is decidedly Surrealist, and incorporates many things of which I am particularily proud or fond. The stylised bird, the sign for the shapechanging ravens, the Corax, from an old roleplaying game called "Werewolf: the Apocalypse". The lady in her Victorian/Edwardian dress and her rose parasol, with no face. The phoenix sun, which was a stroke of genius in my own mind. The blue to the left of the sky, the yellow below the bridge. The rocks, that actually look quite nice, and the strange, rolling clouds, or sea, or grass, below. The bridge, I might come back to and add a few little shadow touches on.
It is painted in oil colours, took remarkably short time from what I was expecting (that's not to say it was done in an afternoon, however) and it was a joy making it. The smoothness of the lower part of the painting took quite some time and effort, yet I did not overwork it, which was nice. I had to go back and touch up some of the white after I thought I was done and had taken some photos, because I had been sloppy with the brush in the white areas up by the phoenix sun.
It is dreamlike, joyful and a little bit disturbing. The way I like to paint Surrealism.

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Oil painting inspired by Mongolia

The last two weeks have seen a flurry of activity from the students in the course regarding Asia. Everyone chose a country to specialise in, and for me, the choice stood between Japan and Mongolia. The latter was my final choice, but despite the two seemingly ample weeks of time, I struggled to meet the deadline. There was simply so very much to write about regarding the art history of that country. The archaeologist in me couldn't skim by the rock art and petroglyphs, nor the way the various religions had influenced artists.
In the end, for my painting this time, I chose not to be influenced by any particular art style of Mongolia, but rather by the country itself. From two photos I mixed up something of my own, and I am happy that the idea I had, and the painting itself, added up. I used oils, which was a relief after time and time again being forced to use acrylics. Nothing bad with acrylics, but I haven't had time or space or peace to give a painting my attention in the same way an oil painting requires. This time, however, I did.
I didn't go haywire with the paints this time either. Mostly I kept to Yellow Ochre, Paine's Grey, Sap Green and Caput Mortuum (reddish brown), as well as Mixed White. There are several others in there, but those were the ones I used the most. I have no qualms about using the white, I need it to dim the colour. The size of the painting was about right (F8), I wouldn't have minded a somewhat larger one, but this did the job.
Painting older people is one of the most fun things one can have. All the lines of the face are a joy to discover and portray. The title, "The Secret History of a Mongol" is of course a hint to "The Secret History of the Mongols", the oldest known written description of the history of Mongolia, and Chingghis Khan, but also to the old woman with her old eyes, a lifetime of experiences behind her, gazing out at the steppes of Mongolia.