ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA by ERNEST HILLEMACHER 7

The parapet walls were made from wood and plastic tubing (Fig 17).

When I was satisfied with the initial trial fitting of the scene (Fig 18), I proceeded on with the final adjustments and painting. As I was dealing with an internal light source, I took every precaution to mask off any gaps to prevent any light filtering through to spoil the final scene. Cutouts were made for a backdrop side monument wall and obelisk which were painted (Fig 19). These will be fitted to the left side of the scene.



Painting

Oil paints were used because I like to mix my colours. I notice that homogenous colours give off a very dull effect when compared to heterogenous colours. Simply put, this is the “pointillism” approach where the individual colours are constantly mixed and processed in the viewer’s eyes and always appear refreshing. Oil paints are never mixed perfectly and the various colour flecks create this interesting effect.

I approached this piece as if I was doing a painting. As stated earlier, all the component parts were painted at various stages during the construction to facilitate access to awkward areas. I matched all tonal colours as close to the original painting as possible. The backdrop and stage were painted. The figures were given basic undercoats with enamel paints and finished off with artist oils. Where appropriate, I applied matt varnish or semi-gloss to the figures after the oils had dried out.

The walls were sprayed with matt white and painted. An old toothbrush was used to flick small drops of paint onto the painted walls. This creates a nice “granite look” to the walls. A fine-tipped brown-coloured pen was used to draw in the granite slabs and Egyptian hieroglyphs. Cuts and nicks were made to the walls along the granite slabs to further create a 3-dimensional look (Fig 20).

Fig 17. The parapet walls being constructed. 

Fig 18. The first framed trial fitting of the scene. 

Fig 19. The side monument wall and obelisk cutouts for the backdrop. 

Fig 20. Detailing the monument walls. a - spray painted; b - hieroglyphics and shadows added.