by Christine Southworth | Apr 22, 2026 | the process
After all of that — the years of thinking, the research, the composition, the drawing, the long months of layering — there is one last stage, and it requires patience of a different kind. I glaze. Using a Damar glaze, I work carefully over the surface of the painting,...
by Christine Southworth | Apr 19, 2026 | the process
Now comes the stage that drives me mad. Layering is the heart of how I paint, and it is slow, deliberate work. I begin with very thin paint — almost a wash — and I don’t touch detail at all. Not yet. I’m only interested in tone. I work from the darkest...
by Christine Southworth | Apr 16, 2026 | the process
Once I have my reference, the drawing begins. I usually work in charcoal, fixing it carefully so it doesn’t bleed into the paint layers that follow. But sometimes I reach for a pastel pencil called sanguine – derived from the Latin word that means blood....
by Christine Southworth | Apr 14, 2026 | the process
The model is never an afterthought. I choose who I work with carefully, because the right person has to carry the emotional thread that has been running through the painting in my mind, sometimes for years. When I’m ready, I spend a whole day with my model —...
by Christine Southworth | Apr 9, 2026 | the process
There is a moment, early in every painting, where I do something that might seem a little mathematical for an emotional painter: . On a blank canvas, I map out the Pythagoras division of the rectangle to find the sweet spots. precise lines, carefully drawn. Where...