Kind of creepy, isn’t it? Wait until I add the Banded Garden Spider.

Don’t get excited. This isn’t a finished painting. It’s a Photoshop sketch I pieced together with one of my paintings-in-progress (the background of the purple, black and white textile design is my actual painting thus far) and images of three birds, one spider and the circular design. The latter will be in 22k gold leaf, just like the painting I posted last week, while the birds and spider will be painted in oil. All the critters will be rendered at their actual size, which for the Eurasian Eagle Owl means a whopping 23–30 inches. After staring at it for a while, I feel like I’ve set the bar a little high for myself. But I like a challenge!

My early attempts of applying gold leaf to my latest paintings is off to a great start. Even though, as you can see in this video, the gold is incredibly fragile. A mere sigh sends it flying into the air. It can’t really be picked up, moved or manipulated directly by hand. Instead, a fine brush loaded with static cling (called a gliders tip) gently attaches itself to the gold so the latter can be moved to the desired spot. It feels good to have a new process to master. This is certainly not like pushing paint around on a canvas.

My studio is beginning to look like the inside of a wallpaper sample book. Thumbnail photos of print designs are accumulating on the walls to inspire a new series of paintings I’m experimenting with. The next layer on this canvas will be realistic oil painting of birds and insects. I’ve posted a glimpse of another such painting that’s nearly completed. I think for this one I will be adding Anna’s humming birds, bees and wasps. Then, the final layer will be a little accent in gold leaf of a lace design. That will all make sense when I have a finished product to post.

I’m trying something new: gold leaf. After anxiously waiting for the glue that sticks the gold to the canvas to set, I successfully managed to apply a delicate design over this painting. I have to give credit to French Master Gilder, Joseph Youss Kadri, who has adorned wall and sculptures with gold in places as prestigious and the Louvre. He graciously gave me some tips in advance of today’s attempt. Thank goodness. I’m not sure I would have figured it out on my own on the first try without creating a messy disaster. The finished product will be up soon.

I’m feeling pretty good about the progress I’ve made in two days in my new studio. My latest move to Pittsburgh, PA has inspired me to do a series of paintings of bridges in the three cities my husband and I have lived in together (Cincinnati to London to Pittsburgh). It feels liberating to be painting in an enormous room versus a London-sized sardine can. I think I can get used to this.

Leave it to me to be inspired by coffee, eggs and pancakes. With a scene like this, I have legitimate reason to be at Square Cafe for “visual research.”

Is the shoe sketch making sense now?

I’m testing a few new ideas in my studio on paintings that I will be printing for holiday cards. Soon they will be available on my website in sets of a dozen…

I’m loving my new pochade box and have been testing it around London as well as other parts of England and Scotland.  Painting on location certainly adds another layer to what I usually consider a very solitary activity.  I did not anticipate that painting at this specific location on the River Thames over looking Tower Bridge would mean I would become a street performer.  I can’t tell you how many people asked to have their picture taken with me.  It was entertaining until the herd of non-English speaking school kids surrounded me and started putting their phones and cameras between my face and the pochade box to take pictures of the painting.  I need to learn how to say “please step back” in Chinese.  Just the same, it was great fun and this painting is really shaping up!

Most of this week I am painting at the Kenwood House at a New English Art Club workshop taught by Tom Coates and Julie Jackson.  It’s amazing how far a little one-on-one instruction gets me.  I’m already seeing a difference in my use of color and how I’m drawing preliminary sketches of the compositions.