Today I completed a LOOOOONG project — the painting of fellow artist Peregrine Honig in black and white acrylics over sumi-painted and gilded paper. It’s somewhat larger than life.
I first painted the paper black with sumi ink. Then I gilded the clothing area in silver leaf. My plan was to paint black on the silver leaf in order to define her clothing and to build white acrylic in layers to define her skin. After completing my plan, I dug back into the darker areas of her skin with black acrylic and then repainted with the white. It improved!
Now I’m very much looking forward to my next Peregrine project which is ready to begin now. It’ll be an 18 x 8 inch accordion-fold book of 16 pen and ink drawings of Peregrine in this same black and silver sequined bunny-dress. The plan looks spectacular. Maybe an edition of three of these?
Peregrine, painting in acrylic and sumi ink on silver-gilded paper, 90 x 38.5 inches, completed April 17, 2010 (collection: Bishop-McCann, an award-winning brand experiences agency)
detail
Closer detail showing paint application white over black over white over sumi in face and black over silver gilding in clothing