The Never Ending Saga of Blue Haired Mom

Some of you had questions about this painting and the enlargement / reproduction process, so I thought I'd go over it in detail. It's a great way to create copies of your work for alteration or enlargement. Although Lazertran is a bit hard to get a hold of, (and even harder to get someone to put through a professional copier) but I'm sure there are other water-slide decal papers out there. 

I am going to gush a bit about 

STAEDTLER's multi coloured metal leafing .

It's a pretty cool product and creates an amazing impact with a teeny bit of work. Love this stuff.

This is how I made my piece.

This is a scan of the original painting. It is 20cm X 20cm square and I used Genesis heat set oils on canvas to create it. It's a self portrait. Me as an anime type character. 

I copied the original image onto four sheets of Lazertran water-slide decal paper and followed the instruction for application onto a canvas surface. I used Golden artist mediums and varnishes to keep things as archival as possible. This reproduced piece has been enlarged to 61cm X 61cm, more than three times the size of the original piece.

I took this shot so you can see the deep brush strokes I made using Golden clear gels. I used the gels to seal the piece and create some texture and interest on the surface. It also is super great for adhering rhinestones. I do like me some bling. Some torn photocopies of the enlarged original were decoupaged over the piece to give it a Frankenstienian feel. I used the Golden artist mediums right through.

I also choose the super cool STAEDTLER  leafing in multi colour flakes. I applied their gold leaf size in broad swirly brush strokes and followed the instructions on the package to stick on the multi colour metal leaf flakes. It creates interesting depth. Looks like I've distressed the leafing with chemicals and oxidized it, but it really is just one easy step. These techniques can be easily transferred to many different applications like altered art cards, greeting cards, furniture refinishing like table top decoupage, book cover art or memory book pages...... the list is endless. I'm even thinking of trying something like this on a pair of pumps.

This is the same altered image after extensive computer editing. Seems I just can't leave well enough alone. 

Always gilding the lily..............