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Cherry
Size: 18x18 inches (Fully framed size)
Medium: Mixed Media - Watercolor, Ink, Metallic Pigments
The past month it has felt more like the middle of Spring than the early December Winter that it should be. I was inspired by the profusion of blossoms on all the cherry and plum trees, and by the Lunar New Year to paint some blooms.
I was recently at the Berkeley Botanical Gardens to see a Botanical Illustration show, and fell in love with the pieces that were done on a surface called Dura-lar, which I found out was a brand that made translucent vellums and other acetate surfaces for drawing and painting on. I bought a couple pads. I found out after I got home that I had accidentally bought one that was just clear acetate. Colored pencils didn't work on it, and neither did watercolor painted directly. Though ink did work quite well, and my watercolor gesso worked too. So I set about playing with it to see what I could do.
Painted the watercolor ground in silhouettes of the blossom branch.
It was quite fun to see the finished branch on the transparent surface.
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I tried out various backgrounds to set it up against.
And finally settled on painting a textured surface of metal leaf, metallic powders, watercolor, and sealer. The result looks bit like beaten copper.
Sandwiched the acetate and background with mat board for the final piece.
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So beautiful - I love how you layered the acetate on top. I have the Dura-Lar on my wish list - would you recommend the matte and/or the watermedia or the clear (love how you experimented with the watercolor medium and it worked so well). I find your blog so inspiring - thanks for sharing your tips and your beautiful artworks!
ReplyDeleteYou'd need to get some watercolor gesso if you wanted to use the wet-media one with watercolor, as you can't paint directly on it. You could probably paint gouache or acrylic on it just fine though. The matte one is nice for colored pencils
DeleteHow very beautiful Steph ... Such amazing textures, I love it, and such a lovely frame too.
ReplyDeleteIn previous question I asked, I've been a little disingenuous with you. For the last year half, staring at me across the room is a present given to me, gold leaf 23 ct and oil gold size, which I thought was some sort of varnish.
I then had the idea of painting a couple of family portraits, of my newly aquired grandsons. My inspiration was looking at the wonderful paintings of Gustav Klimt and Medieval Middle age scriptures illustrations. I was thinking that not only holy saints should have golden halos, but the love I have for my boy can be represented
By using gold leaf halo's, and maybe picking out some small detail in a pattern in the background. One of the reasons for not getting on these portraits, is that through the summer I've been painting wild flowers artwork for greeting cards, it's just a funny coincidence, I only wish I had your amazing getup and go mentality ...
That sounds like a lovely project and a perfect use for the gold. And I love the idea of the halos!
DeleteAnd now I know the rest of the story. I'm buying this one as soon as I win the lottery.
ReplyDelete:D
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