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Monday, May 7, 2012

Sculpture and Faux Bronze #3

Having "ruined" the work with the garish blue green paint, now the chance to "SAVE" it.

It's work, because you're trying to make a highly artificial process look as natural as corrosion.

The next step is to mix a thin glaze of raw umber and tiny touch of pthalo green. You want a greeny brown. Using a dry brush technique, begin knocking back those garish blues. Because it's a dry brush technique, you're leaving blues in any recessed areas to peek through.

You can see it the middle panel how much quieter it is already. You can repeat the steps of painting up the blues and drips and knocking them back with the glaze until you're satisfied with the result.
Here's a detail. See how the blue goes back, but doesn't disappear, with just one glaze of brown?
Relax and have fun. The secret is to repeatedly walk as far away as possible from the work and study it from a distance to see what it needs.

4 comments:

Theresa Cheek said...

You are a patina master!

patrickgracewood said...

Thank you, Theresa.
I want these big relief panels in bronze so badly that I will keep turning them "bronze" until I find a collector who believes the same.
..and will fund the process.

Till then, the patina is as real as my jewelry.

Susan Gallacher-Turner said...

I love your courage. Having the bravery to 'ruin' it with the gaudy blue paint, and now showing how to save it! Wonderful.

patrickgracewood said...

Susan,
(Don't tell anyone, but sometimes it's fun to vandalize your own work.)
Patrick