2 FOR THE PRICE OF 1

50/50 #36

I was caught up in the Olympics and forgot to post last night, so here are two more instead of one.

#36 is another aluminum foil painting.  There is a technique in the last book by Mary Todd Beam where you coat the dull side of aluminum foil with black gesso, turn it over onto a piece of watercolor paper and draw on the back, transferring the gesso lines.   It looks something like a woodcut.  My friend, Kathy Mitchell, has worked with this technique to great effect and does some stunning work.  I have tried it maybe 5 times with mixed results.  This piece of foil had gold gesso on it instead of black and I had saved it from the original project.  Never throw anything away!  After glueing it down, gesso side up, with gel medium, I collaged some tissue which had been stamped with archival brown ink.  It altered the surface is a very subtle way because the brown ink almost disappears into the gold background.   The ink drawing was applied in my usual manner.

50/50 #37

This background  uses a lace patterned washi paper.  On another panel, I scraped white gesso through the paper.  I then stuck this same lace paper down on this panel and covered it with heavy gloss gel.  The same washi paper created two very different surfaces.  After the gel medium was dry I glazed the surface with  wash of Cerulean Blue Acrylic.  It has a fairly slick surface which is reflected in the way the black line drawing is so fluid.  I used diluted black gesso for the drawing as I didn't think the ink would be permanent on such a plastic surface.