GANDOLF

Stale Amsterdam’s captivating artwork, “Mystical Layers: Gandalf,” pays homage to the iconic character portrayed by Sir Ian Murray McKellen in the beloved film series, Lord of the Rings. This mesmerizing portrait encapsulates the enigmatic essence of Gandalf, beautifully capturing both the wisdom and power that define the character.

The artwork is build-up in 42 color layers and the background color is soft white with a touch of red and grey. If you look the artwork up close it’s very abstract. Almost like the work of Jackson Pollock. When you look from a distance the work becomes almost photo-realistic.

About the color palette

I’ve taken two strong elements of the earlier series for this portrait. From 2015 until 2017 my artworks primarily had colorful background layers but the top layers were black, grey, and white. From 2018 until 2020 I opted for softer pastel backgrounds and more expressive and realistically colored portraits. For this series, I’ve combined colorful backgrounds with realistically colored portraits. The best of both worlds.