Moving light with gold

The experiment was movement and gold leaf dust particles filtering down. 

CANVAS 1023 24X24 LINEN

COMPLETED CANVAS

Untitled 24x24 oil & gold on linen (2-6-16 canvas 1023)

DETAILS 

 

For my purposes after 3 days of experimenting this crop worked better for me than the whole. While I think the whole deserves a fresh start on a larger canvas....... its time to move on. 

Canvas 1022 - Irish Gold

My linen wrap is 44x40, my inspiration painting below is a proportional crop from "Buttercups".

REFERENCE

The gold was added first to gain more textural depth. I used a clear acrylic texture paste from Golden. It took several layers of gold build to get the sculptured look on the details below...almost like thick paint, only gold leaf.

CANVAS 1022 44X40 LINEN WRAP

DETAILS

It was more trial and error with colour. My larger working surface helped, plus knowing this was just the first layer of gold. Gold will be added throughout the whole process. I rather like how the horses appear to be in shadow (below). It also suggests a title too, "In the Shadows of Trees".

DETAIL

Unfortunately, the addition of purple (below), and keeping the horse in shadow moved the painting in an entirely different direction from my original plan. In truth, the painting took over and my original intent...."Buttercups" was forgotten! Not sure these still look like buttercups either....

 DETAILS

 

The details look like a free for all but all these marks start closeup and must make sense at 30 feet - part of developing edges. The darker  swirls are pure dioxin purple - what I call background noise.

Canvas 1022 is moving fast. The horses are now in good shape (below). Somewhere along the line it became more about light than even gold. This comes about by studying the light patterns at a distance - close up it's a bit harder to see. Often a slow process before the proverbial "light bulb" comes on as it did here. Gold "was" part of the light pattern, a glitzy colour at that! Oddly I was not connecting it that way until now..

DETAIL

MORE WORK AND A NEW TITLE

"IRISH GOLD"

I'm still following the light, only now it's with small gold flecks here and there... but very deliberate in nature. It's the dust particles when sunlight hits it. How far?.....good question. Whats not showing up well is some of the field gold is in highlight, like my dust particles, and given the amount of gold used its really quite understated...almost subtle. Very much like a pattern within a pattern. The first light pattern formed up around the horses. That was where it became about light.

Looking at it, "Irish Gold" is a better fit........ Signed but more work left here. 

ADDING DUST PARTICLES

DETAILS

 MERGING GOLD AND LIGHT

COMPLETED CANVAS

Irish Gold 44x40 oil & gold on linen gallery wrap (2-2-16 canvas 1022)

I always like when a painting opens the door to the next one. It makes the process faster, but more importantly the energy level stays in place longer. So now my fascination is light and dust particles...go figure

Group shots

I often do group shots for study purposes. I'm looking for a lot of things.... how they hold up together, what works, what doesn't - clues on what to do next. I need to know if I'm wasting my time with the horses. 

The little carousel horse in the center grows on you.........not what I'm after. All these paintings have gold leaf. All were oil and gold leaf trial and error stuff done over the last month in an effort to expand my subject range .

Another group shot for a studio visitor put another light on the gold. In person, at 30 feet and different lighting conditions they all work well together which actually surprised me!

There is a very small horse painting in the mix with good counter balance to my Koi. On a larger canvas, "Buttercups", below, could definitely work in my favor. Cropped or not, this is what I'm after. As an old friend would say, "You have your marching orders!"

Buttercups 12x24 oil and gold on linen (1-13-16 canvas 1018)

MY STARTING POINT

Reference cropped and sized to a 44x40

Whenever I get stuck or need a burst of new energy this not a bad exercise. Before jumping back in I'll stretch a few canvases while waiting for comments back on a commission painting......one painting at a time rules here! 

Testing the waters

Will the art gods shine on my OPA submissions for the 2016 Nationals in Dallas, Texas? This time my whole arsenal was in play - no size restrictions! I never thought about testing any of the Singular Focus paintings out under tight juried conditions, like OPA. No size restrictions changes all that...... If by chance one is accepted I get to go to Dallas for the opening. Dallas is easier for me than some of the previous OPA exhibit locations.

OPA 2016 NATIONAL SUBMISSIONS

 

Our World 48x44 Oil on linen (canvas 953)

 

On a Clear Day 56x48 oil on linen (canvas 955)

Its also the end of the month and time to think about the January Boldbrush completion - sadly no sugar from my December offerings. I did get to the bank with one of them, so that made up for my disappointment...:=)

Some other good news: 

JUST SOLD!

 Venice in Peril 30x30 oil on linen (9-25-11 canvas 597)

Congratulations goes to Rich at Rich Timmons Gallery in Doylestown, Pa. Beautiful gallery if your ever in the area. Rich is now known for and specializes in larger works of art...... As an artist a wonderful sandbox to play in!