Paved with Gold - Assemblage art, Day 2 Jan 2017 30 paintings challenge

Paved with Gold

Abstract Art

21x30cm (A4 size)

Acrylic, cardboard, wire, gold leaf

Contact me about this painting

Day 2 of Jan 2017 30 paintings challenge

I feel I am in a bit of a rut with my art and I have hit a plateau and so loosing inspiration to paint. To kick start myself again the challenge has given me the impetus to try something different.

I like doing different things and often get bored of doing the same thing, not that my palette knife painting is always the same but the techniques are. With the challenge I have given myself permission to play, trying things I have never tried before.

I have been a fan of Carol Nelson for a long time and always admired her abstracts. Although admiring Carol's work, collages have never been my favourite type of art, but in the spirit of trying new things I decided to give it a go. So I enrolled in a course she has on Craftsy to learn some of her techniques.

I have been busy creating acrylic films, painting silver foil, creating plaster stones and clay leaves, painting corrugated artwork, making paper 'sandwiches' (ask me if you are interested in what this is) etc. Having made all this I now needed to put it together. I scoured the internet for ideas and eventually decided on how to begin. I particularly liked a gold, silver and black skin I had made so used that as my base. NOTE: the white on the photo is actually irridescent silver paint.

As usual, once something is started, putting the rest into place became easier. I tried various combinations, crushing a few stones and loosing the stems of the leaves in the process, and hit on this one. It looked a little sparse at first, but some gold leaf tied to whole thing together.

I am not sure if it is 'my thing' or not, but I am pleased with my first effort and will try a few more.

What new techniques have you been learning lately? Let me know.