New paintings & Salon Show October 2nd and 3rd

"Rose Essence" 30x10 gilding, metal on board

"Green Flash" 30x10, gilding, metal on board

"Copper Angel" Diptych, gilding & mixed media on board

The three paintings above will be at my critique group's Salon Show, October 2nd from noon to 8 PM and October 3rd noon to 5 PM. The address is 6905 SW Ventura Dr. in Tigard OR. Here's the mapquest link: http://www.mapquest.com/maps?city=Tigard&state=OR&address=6905+SW+Ventura+Dr&zipcode=97223-9166&country=US&latitude=45.447775&longitude=-122.747073&geocode=ADDRESS

The show is also a benefit for the Mt. Hood Kiwanis Camp with a portion of each sale going to the camp. The six members of the critique group each started a 20x20 canvas in the spring. So we each had our turn and the finished work will be part of a silent auction with all proceeds going to the camp. We also will have a display of photos of each step along the way. It was a very challenging and fun experiment.

New paintings

I'm off in a new direction recently and lots more I want to explore. I'm working on Ampersand boards which are two inches deep. I'm applying more gilding of various kinds because it's time to break the rules. I'm also applying copper, brass and aluminum sheet metal. I glue and nail the metals to the board. The nails match the metal. Then I rub on various kinds of metal patinas. The metals can also be painted over. Once I've created the right finish I spray the gilding or metals with an acrylic fixative. The metal will not degrade or change.

I'm starting small. The first two above are 16x20 and the third one is 12x12.

New paintings

Here are four new paintings. The first one (Gilded History) has some gilding near the top but it's very hard to photograph and the only real way to see it is in person.

The bottom painting "Muse I" is the first of three similar paintings. The first background is a very bright yellow and the top or darkest color is the background of the second painting "Muse II"-which looks very orange in the photo. The third painting's background "Muse III" (which looks more red in the photo) is the darkest color on the second painting. Still with me? The third painting ends in dark blue.

All four can be seen at Art on the Boulevard in Vancouver WA.

Gilded History

Muse III

Muse II

Muse I

New paintings

Here are five new paintings recently delivered to Art on the Boulevard in Vancouver WA.

They are all 16X16 inches and painted over either gold or copper gilding with acrylic paints. There just isn't anything like the glow one gets when painting over metal leaf. I started with the most transparent paints and toward the end, if needed, I used more opaque paints. These five pieces were in process for many weeks and then were on hold as I worked on a large commission. Sometimes a painting needs to be put aside for a week or two and then placed around the house in different places with different types of lighting. Once I've studied them for a time I can then proceed to the last steps and feel that it's a finished painting and no further study is needed.

I plan on doing more work on metal leaf now and am working toward a more simplified look. It remains to be seen if I can do simplified.

Gilding & gold leaf

After
Before

I recently bought 10 new canvases. I didn't need them but they were on sale. I have five 16x16 and five 36x36. Even though they say they are triple gessoed I always do one or two more coats of gesso. My favorite gesso is Utrecht's Professional grade gesso. Then I covered them with gold leaf. The bottom picture is before cleaning and the top photo is after gently cleaning with an old T-shirt on a small sponge.

There are several types of adhesives to use and my favorites are either Duo Embellishing Adhesive by USArtQuest or gold leaf adhesive size by Old World Art. I've also used matt or gloss medium but you need to be sure it is kept semi-wet because once it dries the leaf won't stick too well. The very worst thing to use is spray adhesive. It is bad for you and the environment and besides it doesn't work well at all. Nasty, nasty useless stuff in my opinion. 

Now it's ready to be painted on and may bead up a bit with the first coat but keep going and the paint will stick very well. I start with the most transparent paints available. Later the more opaque colors can be added when I'm sure I want to really cover the gold leaf. Why gold leaf a canvas if you cover the whole thing with opaque paint?

I recently drove between Vancouver and Seattle which takes about 2 1/2 hours. This is the perfect time of year to drive as far as the scenery goes. The deciduous trees are turning from the very palest greens to more mature greens which creates a wonderful contrast between the evergreens which are sort of black green and the newer greens seen in the spring. I saw blue-purple lupines, California poppies, burgundy grasses, pale yellow mustard plants and the deeper yellow Scotch Broom. Wonderful blue skies and good views of Mt. Rainier too.