Endangered species and Misc. Environmental  

Art has always been a way for mankind to connect with nature, an attempt to understand its mystery and beauty, to borrow its power. Artist’s earliest primal symbols show a desire to acknowledge the critical role animals played in human survival. I paint endangered species to call attention to this ancient connection. With the loss of each species, we become less human. Some of the endangered species are oil on canvas, but most of them are created using traditional gilding techniques originating in ancient Egypt.

A wooden panel is covered with several layers of gesso (a mixture of chalk and animal hyde glue) and then painted with bole (a naturally occurring clay mixed with glue) before sheets of gold leaf are applied and burnished with an agate stone to produce a reflective surface. To create the relief or “pastiglia”, warm gesso is carefully ladled on top of the gessoed wood before the bole layer. ​Steel punches may be used to imprint the gilded surface or the gold may be covered with tempera paint and scratched through to expose the brilliance below, a technique called “sgraffito”.