Marbled Portrait, "Gustav":  This portrait has 4 marbled patterns, achieved by masking and marbling the sheet 4 times (no cutting and pasting).
The face has a pale pink peacock, and the hair and shirt are a space marble.
The background represents a Swedish flag, and is made of a yellow chevron feather pattern, and the blue is a light-to-dark stone marble.
I painted the portrait with black and grey watercolors, with pastels for shading.

 

 

This was the most difficult portrait I ever did.  In August 2019, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City asked to buy 25 of my papers to be in their permanent collection of decorative art papers. 
I wanted to send them something more than just a selection of ordinary marbled papers, so I did this portrait of my friend from Sweden.
I made two actually; the top one below was given to him, and the other (still unfinished in this picture) is now in the museum.
I had to make 39 sample papers and rough drafts, trying to get the colors right!  

I later drew this version with a blue butterfly background, and send it to his parents in Sweden:


On to Next Example. . . . . . .Back to List of Examples. . . . . . To Home Page