Gingko leaves mixed media painting WIP

I began this mixed media painting some time ago and have only just had time to do the finishing layers. Sometimes I find it hard to come back to a piece after a break but I think in this instance it has helped. It has slowly evolved using different materials and techniques and I like the way that the different layers that peek through from each stage meld together in the final image.

Gingko mixed media step by step ©2013Lisa Le Quelenec

Stage 1 - I started with a multi block print of gingko leaves that had been printed on top of a monoprint. My intention from the beginning was to build up a rich patina of texture and colour. The two different processes of print making had given me a good start toward fulfilling this aim. As an image it looks bold, graphic and simplistic.


Stage 2 - After working on top in some coloured pencils and acrylic the image was becoming brighter and bolder. To knock back this strength of colour I added a layer of handmade mulberry paper using acrylic medium to glue it down. The random placing of the threads in the paper added to the texture and the semi opaque qualities of the paper knocked back the colour like a veil of haze.


Stage 3 - In the background of the piece I added watercolour in violets and aqua. Where the acrylic medium that I used to glue down the silk paper was thickest it resisted the watercolour, where it was thinnest the paint settled adding tho the rich tapestry of marks. The leaves were worked into with further layers of acrylic.


Stage 4 - The whole now had a layer of semi opaque buff titanium acrylic glaze from the edges of the silk paper onto the the initial paper ground of the original print.


Stage 5 - I took this same glaze and painted right through the whole image uniting the backgound and image. The leaves were then enhanced with layers of acrylic including the addition of some gold metallic paint to draw out the form of the leaves.


Stage 6 - A final layer of aqua stronger at the bottom and running through the smallest top leaf added some depth to the piece.

Falling   mixed media  15.5x25.5cm   ©2013Lisa Le Quelenec

In the final crop I wanted to show the layers that have gone into making up the painting and so left some of the original paper from the print stage showing. I also chose a double mount to emphasise  the frame within a frame aspect. Whilst it is difficult to show in a photograph, each stage of this mixed media piece has added a rich patina of colour and texture. This painting is for sale at my Etsy shop here.


Ironically I started planning this image from some leaves that I had pressed last year in Autumn whilst now the gingko tree in my garden is in full leaf showing off some beautiful summer colour...