Mummies- section of a painting in perpetual progress(current to beginning )

Dearest Steem Denizen,

I like having these progressions in reverse for some reason... i don't know what that means, i'm backwards perhaps.
below is the current state of the painting in question.

fairly simple, i was thinking of making a mummy mask, and decided to paint what it would look like first, and this is where im at so far.

this was earlier, i was thinking of doing this weird atmospheric steam coming out of the mask, but decided it was too... dramatic? yeah, i think dramatic is the correct critique of the idea.

here is a close up of the underpainting, painted wet into wet with color, instead of a traditional grisaille (black and white underpainting, usually done to save money... pigments are expensive!) then i glazed a few warmer greys creating the oranges and yellows. the first image on this post has more glazing of cool (blue) hues. for those unfamiliar with glazing, it is the process of diluting your pigment in a transparent medium (oil) so that more light goes through it and refracts back with the layer beneath it. this is useful for augmenting color, or getting a very complex atmospheric depth. @sammosk recommended i start adding more process information to these posts, so i hope this is helpful information for y'all! here is more info on glaze painting if anyone is interested https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glaze_(painting_technique)

here is the under-painting from a little further back.

and this is the initial sketch that began the painting... i am still considering having the fish hooks attach it to the other aspects of the painting, but im not sure if this is also... too dramatic? what do you guys think?

Warmest Regards,
Shae

http://www.shaemeyer.com/
https://society6.com/barnyardindustrial
https://society6.com/helvegr