"ALMOST" LAST Painting of 2017

 OIL & METAL

Sometime back I started playing around with gold leaf by mixing it in with my oil paint. And, more importantly, I gained a lot of valuable experience working with it. As a result I have some (27) completed canvases. A few are already in limited edition embellished giclee form (Private Giclee Collection). 

Metal leaf can and does add a contemporary edge to representational work. So, for that reason alone it has my attention again! There are some very talented artists out there doing  amazing things with it too! My favorite is Brad Kunkle.

Coincidentally, and to my surprise, I just found out OPA (Oil Painters of America) allows up to 20% of a total painting in metal leaf. I always thought OPA would not! Might be a new thing. That got me to thinking I should enter a few in the next 2018 Nationals this coming month. There is a size restriction at 1200 sq. in....obviously this bad boy below won't qualify at 4,320 sq. in.

DAY 1

Canvas 1189-1 (12-21-17)

The gold leaf pattern and how its organized is seriously important in diminished light..... it shows up!

I cut my gold leaf into narrow strips and went to town applying the first application. It took the whole morning to work out the basic rhythm/movement able to work in any lighting condition. Now I have a structure to work off.  My guess , there will be many more layers added in the final painting. I always like how a painting forms up from humble beginnings. Now I'm hooked! I can see lots of possibilities here.

DETAIL

DAY 2

LEARNED SOMETHING: I used Gamblin's Neo Megilp with small amounts of Williamsburg Alizarin Orange mixed in to fix the metal on. Alizarin Orange is a very transparent colour.... well it didn't dry overnight as it should have.  Neo requires some pigment to setup properly, otherwise it takes forever to dry. Apparently transparent colours like Alizarin Orange might not have enough pigment to do it. 

IRIDESCENCE

LEARNED SOMETHING ELSE: Williamsburg makes this box of metallic oil paint. I pulled it out this morning and tried a bit in conjunction with my gold leaf. I discovered if you mix the Iridescent pearl white with most any very transparent colour like Alizarin Orange it converts it to an iridescent. Not that all these lovely shades above are not useful.... I'm not sure you need anything but the Pearl White. Regardless, drying time is extremely long. Something to consider....

AFTERNOON SESSION 

Much of the morning and part of the afternoon was spent adding another layer of gold leaf. The first layer was connected and blended so it could eventually be merged with the background colour. The second layer is brighter and stands out more like a highlight would. It adds texture and depth.

DAY 3

My 3rd day finished, as you can see this thing is moving very fast. Primarily because of establishing the gold leaf design first. This allowed numerous areas I could work on and finish before moving to the next. Each Koi was painted fresh wet-in-wet. I started with the yellow Koi. In my mind the more difficult one to do because he was part of a gold leaf cluster.  I'm still not sure he's quite finished yet. As I painted each fish I also completed the background to the next and so on. The ultra smooth surface made it a pleasure to paint on.

NOTE: The "thick" Gamblin oil base ground made my canvas ultra smooth. In large part because of the existing smooth painting underneath. I do like painting on it, especially wet-in-wet. I may try it on a fresh canvas to see if it improves the surface quality. Or better yet coat some of my failed giclee canvas proofs. I like recycling!

DAY 4
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I still have one area left unfinished....its a psychological thing. It keeps the painting from closing  down and open to change.... or so they say.

 DAY 5 - Final punctuation!

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WHERE IS MY FISHING POLE?

Sevres Blue 60x72 oil & metal on linen (12-25-17 canvas 1189)

I could sleep on it and find more to diddle with but experience says be happy and move on.

Still 6 days left!!! Time for one more...:=)