Week 15. "One Fool" 18"x24" oil on canvas

One Fool is the first of a diptych called The Fools. More and more I've become absolutely entranced by the textures that can be created with oils. The background here is a rendering of birch bark. Paint is laid on thickly to get sense of peeling bark. The fool's blanket is inspired by a very ornate fabric that's transparent and lacy with opaque fabric creating patterns over it. I've created an illusion of a much more opaque fabric but have kept the patterns. My first step in painting the blanket was to paint the basic light and shadowed areas then go back over it all with the tip a palette knife "carving" patterns into the paint. Once this layer was dried I delicately skimmed the top of the now three dimensional surface with lighter or darker paint and easily brought the patterns out. Look for Another Fool in the coming weeks.