A wide variety of iridescent paint colors including Iridescent Copper, Pearl and Gold are included in this reflective metallic painting.
SKY’S THE LIMIT
Patricia Forbes
Acrylic and paper collage on panel
16" × 16" (41cm × 41cm)
Wash colors (paint diluted with water) are accented with Iridescent Pearl pigment. Alcohol is added into the wet layer creating the organic patterning.
ENCHANTED FOREST
Elizabeth Smarz
Acrylic and pigment on canvas
24" × 30" (61cm × 76cm)
Techniques in this section focus on two groups of reflective paints: iridescent and interference. The names are deceivingly alike, yet offer very different results. Reflective paints create interesting underpaintings, grounds and surfaces, or can just simply be used as paint. Both types of paint require light to be reflective, so avoid adding too much paint color to them in mixtures. Use only about one drop of fluid paint for each 4 ounces of iridescent or interference paint and test the results before adding more. In general, choose modern paints for tinting, instead of mineral or opaque colors such as Titanium White and Cadmiums. Also avoid adding matte mediums or matte gels, or overpainting with matte varnish, as the matting agent’s white powder will block the light needed for reflective qualities. Please note that these techniques in particular produce special effects and sheens not always visible in photographs, so your results will be even more exciting than what you see here.
Iridescent paints (or metallic paints) fall into two categories. Some contain real metal (i.e. Iridescent Stainless Steel, Micaceous Iron Oxide) while others use a combination of mica chips and color to simulate metals (i.e. Iridescent Bronze, Iridescent Gold). See Technique 14 for customizing iridescent paint color.
The iridescent paints that simulate metal create unusual variegated patterns when heavily diluted with water. Iridescent Bronze, in particular, produces very dramatic results, as it separates into its components of pigment and mica. (See Techniques 11 and 34.)
Interference paints create unusual color-flip effects when used in specific ways and are key ingredients in the last four techniques of this section. Interference are fairly new paint inventions, available in art stores in a variety of colors. As you walk past a painting using these, the colors shift and change, creating somewhat of a holographic effect. Interference paints are made of mica platelets containing aluminum silicate. These platelets are coated with a thin layer of titanium dioxide. Depending on the coating’s thickness, the paint refracts different portions of the available light’s color spectrum. This means they do not contain colored pigment to create the “color,” and require different handling than normal paint colors. Here are some tips for getting the most out of the interference paints:
• Interference colors are very transparent (unless applied very thickly) and will change appearances over colors or surfaces on which they are applied. Over a white or light colored background they look subtly pearlescent, translucent and color flip when seen at different angles between their pair of complementary colors. For example, Interference Green on a light surface will flip between green and red, while Interference Blue flips from blue to orange, and Interference Violet from violet to yellow. The intensity of their “undertone color” appears more dramatic when applied thinly over a dark or black background. For example Interference Violet becomes a highly illuminated refractive violet when applied thinly over black.
• Mix a small amount of black paint into an interference to make it more opaque and further enhance the undertone coloring.
• Use interference as top layers or final paint layers allowing the most light to reach them. Mix gloss gels and gloss mediums into interference paints to increase the refraction and effects.
• Add acrylic paint colors in small amounts to interference for unusual effects. The added color appears as the masstone while the interference undertone color is still visible.
Interference Gold washes are applied over a dark and light underpainting, creating a mesmerizing gold color flip when seen in person. The dark-light underpainting is created by applying dark colored washes over a textured surface using molding paste and gloss gels. The dark washes resist over gloss showing as the white areas in the underpainting, while puddling up over the molding paste areas to create the darks. For a similar wash, see Technique 34.
GALACTIC
Barbara Jackson
Acrylic on canvas
48" × 60" (122cm × 152cm)
Collection of Dr. Kelly Wirfel and Dr. John Holcomb