Art Nouveau Madonna

I did the sketch for this little gouache painting in my Moleskine 5x8 sketchbook weeks ago. Today I finally took the time to finish painting an collage. It is another in my art nouveau series which is based on Gustav Klimt's Hope II. My purpose in studying and the artists from this period is to take ideas and techniques of these artists and add what I really like to my own work. The background is gold acrylic; the clothing is pieces of my gel plate prints cut up and collage onto the figure; the face and hair are painted in gouache. The hand was much better until I started fiddling with it to make it better but who hasn't destroyed something trying to fix it? Still, I relearned something I have known for years––always mix up more paint than you think you would ever use. Not sure if I am ready to move on to a new project yet are just move this series to the back burner for a bit.

 

The Kiss

Another imitation of an art nouveau artist, this time Gustav Klimt's 

The Kiss, 1907-08. His original was an oil on canvas. I had read somewhere that you can use acrylic paint as an underpainting for gouache. Somehow I missed the descriptive of "matte". I mixed a matte white and yellow ochre together, then decided to add a pearl acrylic which changed my mixture from matte to glossy. I painted the entire spread in my 5x8" Moleskine. It is a beautiful metallic gold. The next day when I went to add the flesh tones to the sketch I had done on top, the paint just beaded up and sat there. I wasn't ready to give up so I pulled out more acrylic and painted the skin and hair. Next, I laid tracing paper over the page and drew a silhouette of each of the couple's clothing, and cut out two of my gel press prints for clothes. I finished by outlining the figures and adding a bit of detail in black ink. I had a great time doing this one too.

 

Art Nouveau Lady 1

This was a fun project. I had been wanting to study other artists' works. I have always appreciated the Art Nouveau period and thought I would take a stab at imitating one by Alphonse Mucha (1860-1939). I had also wanted to play around with my gouache paints. Back in November 2020, I drew the pencil sketch in a 5x8 Moleskine sketchbook. I liked it but didn't get back to it until this month. I used gouache, outlined parts of the image in black ink, then glued a fake gold leaf on the surface. It is hardly perfect but it was fun and different. Once it was finished I sprayed it with a coat of Krylon clear spray as recommended. That resulted in a milky coating over the entire image. I understand the coating is needed to protect the "gold" leaf from tarnishing. But before I use it again I need to do some research to find a sealer that does not change the finish.