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This is a 20″x24″ acrylic, gold foil and mixed media painting on canvas.

I wanted to do something with pressed flowers/plants, and I’ve also wanted to do a portrait in the art nouveau style.  As soon as I decided on the art nouveau I knew I was going to want to paint my dear friend Rose.  She’s almost always got flowers in her hair, and is just a beautiful person – inside and out.  I decided to go more abstract with the background to let the subject be the main focus.  I had to be careful with gluing the plant material down so as not to mess up the finish on the gold leaf (I’ve learned that the hard way with varnishing). I had her waves come down in almost geometric curves, much like many of the art nouveau paintings by Alphonse Mucha.

The flowers worked reasonably well, but of course, they had faded considerably during the drying process, so after sealing them (again, being careful with the gold), I decided to paint over them to liven up the color, and also provide another layer of protection.

I was most nervous about the freckles, because there was no way to be faithful to the subject without them (they’re such a beautiful part of her personality), but I knew it could go very wrong.  It took a lot of time and finessing, but I finally got them to the point where I was happy with them.

Project Images

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