Layering Experiments Continued...

I started adding an image over the underpainting I started from my last layers blog.  If you'll remember, I coated my canvas with Acrylic Ground for Pastels, let it dry then did some color stains on top.  When that was dry I adhered some pieces of cheesecloth with a "faux encaustic" mixture and when that was dry, I applied another layer of Acrylic Ground for Pastels to reclaim the grit and use the underpainting as a drawing surface. 

Because this was an experiment, I learned some things along the way!  I started my drawing with a 2H pencil, but the graphite wasn't showing up over the underpainting since it is of medium tone.  I switched to a white watercolor pencil, then to a much darker drawing pencil.  I settled on a Derwent "Drawing" pencil in Chocolate.  After I put down a rough sketch, I went over some of my lines with Burnt Umber Light Fluid Acrylic, thinned down with a touch of water and applied with a fine brush to give the look of an ink.

 The cheesecloth texture proved difficult to draw on, though slightly easier to brush paint over.  I am enjoying it's rough and random appearance in my background, but for the first stages of the drawing I will admit I was frustrated with it and had to set it aside a few times so I didn't give up on the whole thing all together! 

I will be adding more layers of color and gel over this project this week and will continue to post the stages of development!

A new project I started while gearing up for the holiday craft season was painting wood frames with weathered metal and wood grain effects.  A new metallic effect I'm developing involves layering cool iridescent colors which is new territory for me.  Much like how I haven't used much blue in my paintings because a warm color palette and the colors of fall are more my taste (warm dominates while cool accents), warm iridescent colors like bronze, copper and gold generally inspire me more than silver and steel.  My color palette has continued to evolve and expand and now I'm becoming more intrigued by these cooler metallics.

A trick that I discovered a long while back was that iridescent colors will show up better over a darker surface, especially in thin layer, so it's fun to layer them dark to light.  I've had issues in the past with Iridescent Silver because it is so light in tone...I prefer a bolder metallic look and I could never get my silver to layer on and really look like metal.  Since I enjoy painting so that my metallics look weathered, I needed my iridescent color to be bold enough to then be able to distress it.  So I've been tinkering with a new layering process that has really helped enhance the look of Iridescent Silver and Iridescent Stainless Steel to a point where I'm thrilled to start using them in my fine art paintings.

The basic recipe goes like this:

Layer 1: Thin application of brown or dark blue... I used Fluid Manganese Blue Hue mixed with Van Dyke Brown Hue

Layer 2: Gel textured with a palette knife to give a roughed-up or gel pressed through a stencil to simulate an embossed texture effect .  I used Soft Gel Semi-Gloss

Layer 3: Heavybody Micaceous Iron Oxide applied full strength (no water) in a thin layer (its grit will help doing stains of color in later layers)

Layer 4: Heavybody Iridescent Stainless Steel (Coarse) applied full strength (no water) in a thin layer on top of the Micaceous.

Layer 5: Fluid Iridescent Silver (fine) thinned slightly with water, apply this to the peaks of your texture as a stain (wet the surface first) and use a dry brush to feather the silver into the steel.

Layer 6 and beyond: "weather" the surface with Fluid acrylic colors in a stain/wash application.  Here I used touches of Titanium White (to create calcified areas) and bolder areas of Quin Nickel Azo/Gold and Van Dyke Brown Hue for dirtier "aged" spots.

To see or purchase one of these frames, please visit my etsy shop: www.etsy.com/twonudesinparis