Danielle
Medium: acrylic and gold leaf on canvas
Size: 18 x 24 inches
This painting was done to honor my daughter’s modeling process. This picture was taken during Danielle’s Dallas MAC cosmetic shoot. I loved the way they did her hair and it reminded me of Adele Bauer in Gustav Klimt’s famous masterpiece, “The Woman in Gold”. This was such a hard process, but well worth the effort. I used a mix of gold leaf, underpainting and overpainting to create t as the color in Danielle’s photo was very ‘warm’ (in the visual temperature of the piece). I had to balance the warm in the photo and the gold leaf with gray to create visual harmony. I also balanced the gold with a ‘cool red’ under so the intensity of the gold didn’t overpower the painting. This is also the painting that has spring-boarded me into a collaborative partnership with Graham Hobart, photographer. I am currently in the process of doing another painting of Danielle, but this time in Graham’s one of a kind, portrait process.
Here is a photo process of how I do my gold leaf art with a photo that has been incorporated. First, I start with the photo and paint my base color around it (this is after the canvas has been prepped). I set up the basic composition in and around the photo to establish a good line and shape flow. Next, I block in the undercolor to establish a color tone for when the gold leaf is applied. As you can see, I build and scrape away to achieve the desired end result of a gold leaf over photo piece. This is a beautiful way to enhance a well done photo. As a piece of personal connection, this is my daughter, Danielle who had done a shoot with Mac makeup and I wanted to extend this cool artistic photo into a canvas. The last photo is of Danielle 3 years later at the event we did at a Dallas Yoga studio along with 25 of my other art works.
