I grow African Paddle Plants because they are gorgeous and do not require a great deal of attention from me other than my devoted admiration of their beauty. This one flowered in an amazing profusion of blooms!
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| Kalanchoe thyrsiflora flowers |
I prepared cold pressed watercolor paper with 3 different grounds: one has a layer of white casein paint [far right]; one a coat of white casein paint with Daniel Smith copper watercolor powder mixed in [lower left]; and one is white casein paint tinted with pale green egg tempera paint [top left].
Once dry, I created the images entirely in silverpoint. The image on the right received a coat of pale green egg tempera over the silverpoint work. I couldn't resist adding a hint of the maroon edges on some of the paddles.
It was fun to pull the image out of toned paper - adding darks with silverpoint; mid-tones are untouched paper; and lights are enhanced with white egg tempera paint + touches of white charcoal pencil. All 3 images are matted together as one finished piece.
[Obviously this is a home-made scan so the image got cropped all around. I resized the canvas to give you a better idea of the actual border - someday I'll learn Photoshop :-) Replaced the image today with a pro scan. The silver has tarnished - as it should - so the overall value range extends into the darks.
