Throughout the 40 or so years that I have been painting, copying master works has held a certain fascination. It is a great way to practice and learn techniques from the very best. I copied Vermeer’s Girl in the Red Hat a number of years ago and gave it to Dave for his birthday. It was very unfair to actually buy the real one in the National … [Read more...] about Girl in the Red Hat
Margret's Blog
Ready to Roll!
Ready and going live! For many months, Sheri Huffman, my brilliant web designer, and I have been collaborating on a new web site/blog design. This has been a true meeting of the minds. Sheri has been at the helm full of ideas, suggestions, samples, templates, colors, font styles, font sizes, font colors, backgrounds, background colors, visuals, … [Read more...] about Ready to Roll!
More Rembrandt Mysteries
There is a mystery that has been baffling scholars for a long time. Why did Rembrandt apply gold leaf to the surface of a sheet of copper and paint in oil atop. Why would he cover a perfectly and already beautiful copper surface? Was it the smoothness? Was it an experiment? Nobody really knows for sure. What is known is that it is an intriguing … [Read more...] about More Rembrandt Mysteries
Into the Soup
Experiments were made using several different brands of powdered gold leaf, but I settled on the Schmincke. This pigment is super fine, rich in color, and mixes easily into a paint by combining the powder with just a little of whatever medium you are working with on your project. I used the Strasbourg medium that I have been using all along on this … [Read more...] about Into the Soup
Atmosphere on the Easel
This is another example of background transparency/translucency that suggests a lot of atmosphere. The brass is glowing through the paint strokes, but it's not too busy either. Black and burnt umber worked well here. Above is a detail of one of the gold leaf paintings. The gold was such a beauitiful passage that it was left unpainted … [Read more...] about Atmosphere on the Easel
Twists and Turns
This paint on metal project has had many ups and downs with unexpected twists and turns. Mostly, it has been a big experiment with interesting discoveries. My biggest discovery is understanding what I like the look of and what I don't. What has become crystal clear to me is the look of the metal glowing through the paint is really beautiful, … [Read more...] about Twists and Turns