Historically, copper supports were, for many artists, a practical and relatively simple way to prepare for oil painting. Artists such as Rubens and Rembrandt painted on copper. Examples through the centuries that have survived exhibit great luster and remain as fresh as the day they were painted. Paintings on copper do not suffer from the same types of degradation as is the case for paintings on canvas or wood. Preparing copper plates for oil paint is easy. In this workshop, Steven will go through some of the traditional methods as well as his own processes of priming copper. The smooth surface provides an ideal substrate for rendering fine detail. Over time, lead and other metal paint pigments fuse to copper in an enamel-like hardness without the problem of sinking in, such as how canvas sometimes can. Perhaps the most attractive reason among painters for using copper is the gleam of its metallic surface. There is a luminous jewel-like appearance that paintings on copper can exhibit. Steven will start the workshop with a demonstration painted from the live model to show how copper can allow for glowing transparent shadows and give the feeling of light that jumps from the surface. Workshop Objectives: • Learning traditional as well as the artist's own methods of preparing copper plates for oil paint. • Formal instruction: construction of the head, proportion, value, light logic, shadow, etc. • Introduction to achievability. • Understanding the luminous jewel-like qual...
