Opéra de Paris Garnier, Paris, France

Paris has a number of amazing landmarks, this one is the Opera building on the right bank near the big shopping centers (printemps and la fayette). The front view has tons of statues and gilded angels on the roof with all these romanesque pillars and detailing. I took on a less demanding viewpoint, this is looking at the side of the building, focusing on just one of the gold statues. What grabbed my attention was how this sparkiling gold statue stood out against the grey overcast weather.

Painting a gold effect is rather challenging...a lot of it has to do with the surroundings. I started by painting the sky, being careful that the shape of the statue was preserved. At this point the statue was just blank paper surrounded by the sky. Of note, I did not make an outline for the statue, because it would have lessened the sparkling effect. Technically this is called a negative shape, because you are painting the space around an object before the object is even there, it takes a bit of practice. Then I needed to let the sky dry, so I worked on the other elements, the brick, the eagle on the pillar, and the background building. When the sky was mostly dry I started building up the staue with thin layers of nearly pure yellow, followed by layers of amber, and finally some darker browns for shadow. I used each layer to try and make the shapes and contours of the statue, the goal was to have something with volume, but that also sparkled. In several spots the white paper shines through. By placing a golden object against a grey background, the gold really pops out and looks real.

7.5x11" cold press, Jan 2012