The Golden Cross

Many of my paintings start off with an underpainting of handmade or hand painted/stained papers. I normally do not have a pre conceived idea of composition and like to allow the painting to become what it wants to be. In other words, I like to paint intuitively. "The Golden Cross" started out with monochromatic shades of hand painted papers in cerulean blue. I wanted to do a complimentary colour pallet so I used papers in shades of quinacridone gold as the complimentary colour. I tend to use the quinacridone gold as an yellow-orange and I love the way it makes the cerulean blue pop!

      
 

"The Golden Cross"

Mixed Media Abstract

Canvas, 20x20

Acrylic, hand painted paper, metal, texture paste, watercolour, ink

SOLD

  I also used an acrylic skin to create the circular, coin shaped emblem. I don't use acrylic skins a lot, but in this case, I wanted something to offset the grid composition that seemed to be appearing. As I was letting the layers dry, I noticed a cross had appeared. I decided to play on that and let the cross become the focal point. I also added some design and visual interest using handmade stamps and stencils. Over all, I am very pleased with the end result and think it turned out great!