The Gift of Wings III

Golden Eagle drawing in silverpoint.  ‘The Gift of Wings III’

This is my latest silverpoint where I have used several different precious metals for the drawing; pure silver, 9ct rose gold and platinum, surprisingly they all leave a similar grey mark on the paper but they do have subtle differences. The gesso painted onto the paper has had finely ground, genuine Lapis Lazuli pigment mixed with it to create the sky. Pure 23ct red gold leaf has also been applied on the eagle’s head.

With this drawing or painting (I will let you decide) I wanted to create something different, as much as my watercolours don’t follow the traditional style I wanted to break out of the two dimensional in this medium too, creating distance and depth. As if the eagle was coming out of the painting from another world.

In the same way that people talk of a musician creating ‘colours’ in the music, I wanted to show that a monochrome medium such as silverpoint could still express colour (apart from the blue). So many times we are trapped within a medium and every now and again it is great when something transcends the boundaries between (in this case) oil or watercolour and silverpoint.

I just realised as I came to finishing this that ‘The Gift of Wings’ is now the only painting that I have completed in three different mediums, first in watercolour then oil and now silverpoint.

To read more about silverpoint, click here>.

Framed in a lovely Italian moulding with silver leaf detail, a double mount and silver slip.

Image size = 390 x 250 mm