Monday, October 13, 2008

The New Republic

Oil on linen canvas 24" x24"
I teach painting classes once a week in my Fort Lee studio. One of my students brought in this beautiful angel candelabra.  A few treasures from the prop stash: rich Damask fabric; candles; a feather quill and small ink well; well-read book and souvenir box easily fell into place. Not so easy was the task of painting that elusive cherub.
Challenged to get the relief decoration to "read" as three dimensional, I kept wiping it out and reworking to a point of frustration. What finally helped in the end, was a happy discovery that  hints of silvery grey (north light effect) placed on top of bright yellow highlights (the presumed color choice for brass) gave the impression of a raised protrusion. What a relief!