Metal Embossing, Peony Final

As I promised in my Metal Embossing post, here is the finished piece.  Scroll down to the one entitled 'Metal Embossing' to see how I did this before adding color.

I chose a nice neutral brown, two reds, an opalescent pink and two greens for the color.  These are liquid acrylics - very heavily pigmented.

Because the gesso is super absorbent, I worked one small area at a time, the size of, say, half a peony.

With the inks, I would paint or pour them on, one or two colors at a time, and work them into the crevices with a rag.  I wanted to go for an antiqued, old look, so I rubbed the paint off in
varying degrees.  Some spots I left more pigmented, and some I rubbed harder.  In most of the highly embossed places, I rubbed hard enough so that the shine of the metal glistened through.
The second picture shows  detail so you can see how I treated the outside edges.  Some I rubbed down to the gesso, letting the white peek through.  In some parts I layered colors and rubbed one or the other off to varying degrees to get that ancient look.  I've always liked pinks and greens together, they give me a nice, peaceful feeling.

By the way, the complex leaves surrounding the flowers are rose geraniums.  If you aren't familiar with them, seek them out.  The flowers are insignificant, but the leaves smell like fresh roses.  I use them in bouquets always.  They're also great when you toss a couple leaves into your iced tea glass - how can iced tea not be good when it smells like roses?  They're also a wonderful flavor enhancer for homemade apple jelly.  Just imagine light pink sweet rose-scented apple jelly on your toast.  Oh, heaven!  And of course my signature is down by all those rich, textured browns.  Let me know what you think.  AND... merry Christmas.