The idea for this project came from a gift of mallard feathers.
The diversity of colors and shades is incredible and very inspiring.
At the same time, I’ve been wanting to work with transparency mixed with my multi-material marquetry technique for some time now.
I did a transparency training course, known as the “Vriz technique” (Georges Vriz developed this technique and produced several books on the subject) with Yves Gauthey, who design paintings using this technique.
But the exercises were very different from what I do every day!
It took me some time to mature the subject and find a way of integrating this know-how.
After various trials, here’s the 1st result, a starry night with the Milky Way. The starry night part is a mix of parchment and wood veneer, worked in gradations to achieve this “transparency”. I added splinters of gold leaf and a few precious stones to represent the stars. The Milky Way section is treated differently: the background is lined with gold leaf and I’ve integrated fragments of feathers in a gradation of colors combined with precious stones.