Ancient Egypt art

This is ancient Egypt art by yours truly. I have been painting ever since I was three years old. I used to paint mostly horses, but when I started my Egyptology studies at the University of Manchester (and well, before that really), I started painting these scenes.

Painting Cleopatra and Caesarion

I have to admit I admire people who can paint with loose, big brushstrokes. Because I can't. I've tried. And always I end up doing these meticulous details. Oh well, that is my style and that's it.

I have used many reference photos while doing these, and have been kindly been given permission to use them. I want to thank my fellow students at the University of Manchester, and my many social media friends. Usually I use many many photos for one painting, and there is only one exception here - the Golden Mask of Tutankhamon. For this only one photograph was used (with permission).

These paintings were shown at the Ancient Egyptian Treasures -exhibition in Finland. This was an exhibition where replicas of the treasures of Tutankhamon's tomb were shown.

All these paintings are now on my own living room wall - I spent so much time painting them they almost feel like they are my children... Strictly speaking they are for sale, but shall not go cheap.

If, however, you are interested in prints of the paintings, there is a link beneath each painting that takes you to my Fineartamerica page for that painting. There you may zoom in on the paintings to see the details.

ancient Egypt art -
the paintings

cleopatra and caesarion

This is an oil painting on board. Only colors used are blue, brown and white. Here Cleopatra is shown together with her son by Gaius Julius Caesar, depicted in traditional Egyptian way at the back wall of the beautiful temple of Hathor in Dendera.

This painting took approximately 200 hours to finish, because every single hieroglyph is painted with a miniature brush. 8" x 11"

Oil painting of Cleopatra and Caesarion. Copyright Leena Pekkalainen

Prints and postcards of Cleopatra and Caesarion

menkaure triad

This is a scratchboard work - black ink board scratched meticulously with the tip of a surgical knife to reveal the white. The original statue is about 4500 years old. The sheer skill of the ancient artists never ceases to amaze me... Again another 200 hours of work.

Scratchboard painting of Menkaure Triad. Copyright Leena Pekkalainen

Prints and postcards of Menkaure Triad

Tutankhamon's throne

This is an oil painting on canvas, size 28" x 28" (70 cm x 70 cm). I have a whole binder full of photos I used for this. One of the kind persons allowing me to use their photos as reference was the late Bob Partridge, editor of the Ancient Egypt Magazine. His kindness will always be remembered.

Painting this took me 370 hours.

Oil painting of Tutankhamon's Throne. Copyright Leena Pekkalainen

Prints and postcards of Tutankhamon's Throne

tutankhamon's golden mask

Here is a painting of Tutankhamon's most famous treasure - the golden mask. This is oils on canvas, 8" x 11". This one took over 200 hours to finish again. Kind permission to use the reference photo for a painting (and prints made of the painting) was given by the Werner Forman Archives.

This painting was a challenge - gold is not really yellow when it reflects its surroundings. No - there are thousands of shades of grey there. And the blue glass on the names headdress changed its color depending on the amount of light.

Oil painting of Tutankhamon's Golden Mask. Copyright of artwork Leena Pekkalainen

Prints and postcards of Tutankhamon's Golden Mask

I hope you enjoyed seeing my ancient Egypt art. Maybe in the future I find the time to paint more of them. (Studying Egyptology took most of my evenings, but now that I have graduated, there is more time...)