Sculpture and Faux Bronze #2

Go look at bronze statues that have been outdoors for years. They're not brown, and unless someone has been rubbing on them, they're not shiny gold.

Often they are very dark with outrageous shades of blue and green.

Here's how I build up the background for any faux bronze. Start with a solid dark brown base, as in the upper left of the photo. I like to use raw umber or burnt umber with a touch of pthalo green.
Painted solid brown, the relief looked like a giant chocolate bar.

For the patina, I mix pthalo green with white and paint in in every recessed area. At this point, it's gaudy as hell. You'll feel like you're vandalizing your own work. Do it!

I'm playing with the fantasy of an ideal patina. For the Bouquet for the City relief that means I want the blues to evoke the rain and fragrance dripping off this "King George"rhododendron. 

To get that, I paint the color on, let it dry a bit and then hit it with squirts of water until I get the drips I want.

Just as I textured the background to give it a sense of movement, I'm using the drips to animate the background void and help tell a story.