This time on ivory

While I'm catching up a little on projects I finished a while ago, I thought I should probably post about a portrait miniature which I painted last spring.  Aubry, a truly lovely historical costumer, had contacted me about doing a miniature of her husband in late 18th century style and clothing.  This gave me the opportunity to paint a miniature on actual ivory, something I'd not before attempted.

Painting on ivory was definitely an... experience.  As much as I thought polymer clay wasn't absorbant, ivory was even less so.  Very, very slick.  After a bit of trial and error, I found that the best way to apply the paint was in very tiny, little brush-strokes.  A sort of stippling in tiny lines instead of dots, if that makes sense.

I can totally see how one would need all the years of an apprenticeship to be able to call one's self a miniaturist!  The skill is definitely one that requires practice.

on paper

I did this little painting a couple months ago as a bit of practice in trying to develop an 18th cen style of painting for portrait miniatures, thinking I should probably give stippling a try since that was a very commonly used technique.

I used a scrap of watercolor paper to paint on... even though ivory was the preferred surface, paper was definitely used at the time as well and has the benefit of being a LOT cheaper (though fittingly, it looks a lot cheaper too).  In fact, one of the coolest ways I've seen miniatures used is one found in 'Napoleon and the Empire of Fashion' which was painted on paper, and stitched into the center of a round silk reticule.  I'd love to make a reticule like that at some point. 

Anyhow, long story short, I think stippling is dreadfully tedious and it's a good thing not all miniature artists used that technique because if I has to stipple every miniature I would loose my mind.  There's a good reason I normally like to work with oils...

My Portrait Miniature Experiment

A few days ago I sat down and finished the portrait miniature which I had started a couple months ago.  For being my first attempt I'm somewhat satisfied with it, and I feel like I learned a lot from this experiment.

Watercolor on rolled polymer clay, about 2" x 2.5"

I was mainly focused on trying to learn the technique and get used to the materials and scale of things.  With that in mind, I simply copied from an original in one of my library books:  English Portrait Miniatures.  Sadly, I had to return the book before finishing my miniature OR having the presence of mind to write down pertinent info concerning the artist and subject. 

There are definitely things I want to do differently for the next attempt, most of which relate to tools and materials.  For this first try, I simply used whatever I had on hand, but the student-grade watercolors made my job a lot more difficult.  The white especially... it seemed to 'puddle' on the surface far more than any other color and didn't blend half as well either.  Even if I don't buy any other new paint, I will certainly be investing in a good quality white before my next miniature.

Also on the top of my list are better brushes.  A lot of very small brushes don't have the good flow required for the paint to cling to such a nonabsorbent surface.  I noticed that the same tiny brush which left a good line on paper barely deposited any paint onto polymer clay.  I'm hoping that real squirrel hair brushes (which were used in the 18th cen for such a purpose) will improve things.

My final, and perhaps largest, concern is how to protect the surface.  Even when completely dry, one drop of water would lift the paint right up and and utterly ruin the miniature.  The clay slab is a bit too thick to put under glass with a frame (although that will probably be a possibility for the fake ivory I intend to try at some point soon), so I am trying to find a good spray varnish, intended for watercolor, which will seal the surface.  After all, it would be really pointless to have a miniature that you couldn't even risk taking outside!

Miniatures: putting the brush to... clay

So.  Right.  Miniatures.

The research was easier than I thought it would be; mainly thanks to my access to the Rockefeller Library here at CW, which contains nearly every book published that pertains in any useful way to the eighteenth century.  The technical process on the other hand... well, that's a whole other kettle of fish.

I recently found a link to a vendor than sells all sort of materials for miniature painting, including several ivory substitutes.  While I fully intend to order and try a variety of these, I wanted to get painting (and practicing) at once and decided to experiment with polymer clay.

I rolled out the clay as smoothly as possible, and trimmed it to match the little frame that I have.  Since I wasn't sure which color would simulate ivory the most after baking, I made three different samples in: Ivory (natch), Winter Cream, and Translucent.  Oddly enough, Translucent came out a sort of clear, fleshy tone... way too pinky to be used for this sort of thing.  Winter Cream was a good color, but a bit too chalky in appearance.  Happily, the Ivory actually did look the most like ivory, and I set out to paint.

I started on a little shmushed piece that I'd baked as well, just to get a feel for the watercolor on this sort of surface.  Watercolor is persnickety at the best of times, but when you are applying it to a nearly totally non-absorbent surface it turns somewhat evil.  The most terrifying part which I found, is that even when the paint was dry, if you dripped water on it or added a wet wash, it lifted right back off again... just like it does on a palette.

This really hammered home to me why miniature painters nearly all employed a sort of stippled technique, as it is the least disturbing to paint already laid down.

For the very first miniature, I decided to simply copy an original, as I'm not attempting to do anything other than get a handle on the medium.  So far I've merely done a light outline and started to lay in the background.  We'll see how it progresses...