My first painting of the new year is a mixed-media painting. I don’t usually paint faces. I do make sketches and I will be painting more faces in the near future. I mostly enjoy ripping paper to make collages, but I thought I’d take more risks and stretch myself more. For the painting I used leaves from my garden to use as stamps for the background. The climate in Athens is different from Western Europe and Northern Greece which is why I was able to gather leaves in the winter. I painted some of the leaves gold and glued them on the canvas. The gold leaves became a headdress and it shines beautifully in the light which I am glad the photograph captured.

Keep stretching! This is stunning. I love the gold and I love the contrast between the background and the gold and then the simple beauty of her face.
Thank you so much Sophie. It means a lot. It took a few snap shots to capture the gold colour because it wouldn’t show in the photograph. It was so important that the contrast be shown.