I believe this is my most successful acrylic painting of my recent series. Inspired by dark fantasy painters I managed to get just the right horror film lighting, and a decent collaboration of my materials, even if the patterned paper I added to the veil and robe with image transfer caused a lot of trouble. I started by using foam rollers for a few light, splotchy layers of green, blue, and yellow across the image, washed some blues into the figures and continued to paint by adding local colours first, then shading largely with slightly tinted blacks. Midway through I used some washes again to unify the blue-red-green gradient that had emerged. After the initial layers I largely painted around the metal leaf bits of the background; the foreground ones were added from a vial that I collect excess leaf in, pressed into the size with a silicone tool. I am happy I managed to keep some of the coloured pencil lines on the face that I deliberately overdid. When I was finally unsure about whether or not i should drag the background yellow streaks into the figure I overlaid a sheet of plastic foil to try first. Makeshift digital layer! I might not have been courageous enough otherwise (painting on paper doesn't allow for just wiping something off I don't like).
"Veiled", acrylic and metal leaf on Bristol carton, A4.
