Another vintage lady I have painted over with inks.
I think she looks a bit Medieval now. I am happy with the way the skirt is shaded and thrilled with the gold edging and silk underskirt. The gold is painted with gold Ecoline ink - you would never think that a watercolour ink would be shiny gold would you - I thought the only way to get that would be to use gold paint - but in ink has a lovely gold leaf softness about it.
The background I painted with Autumnal colours with a bit brighter for the glimpse of the lawn and the pond.
A close up of the brush strokes is below of foreground etc - which you can't get a feel of or see the details from the photos.
Nearly forgot to mention - the border is done with Gesso paint, swirled and textured and then when dry I painted it with layers of mettalic pewter - to give the 'sense' of the era.
I was going to paint it shades of grey to make it look as though it was being viewed through a true stone gothic arch - but changed my mind in case (a) it was too heavy and distracted the eye from the lady (b) I might not have been able to get the stone effect and would then have ruined hours of work!
