His eyes were grey-blue, by the way. I wasn't sure and surprisingly it took me some time to figure it out. Most of his photos make them look very dark, so I thought maybe they were brown. But I was just sure they were blue, so I kept digging through Google and discovered that, yes, they were grey-blue.
I also worked on the base. Now, I had struggled and struggled with what to do with the base. Mahogany? Marble? Cream to match his garments? I finally settled on gold. He was, after all, a pope. It was a excellent choice. . . .
I began with a base coat of red ("Cherry Royale," to be precise) and topped it with "Metallic Antique Gold Leaf." Wow. I had forgotten how beautiful it is to watch the gold "pop" with a red base coat--especially on a large surface area like that. It was a bit of a challenge to draw a line where the base meets the bust, but I am pleased with the outcome.
I can't wait to get into the nitty-gritty of dry brushing lighter gold tones over the base!
