Christmas Ornament Still Life #2

At the beginning of this year I painted a little still life featuring a couple of my mother's Christmas ornaments. I had initially planned on doing a little series with different ornaments, but as the year progressed and the Christmas spirit wore off, I lost interest in it. As I started decorating my own tree a few weeks ago, however, I remembered that I had a bird ornament very similar to my mother's, and got an idea for another still life. I took the bird, paired it up with a jungle bell I'd recently gotten at Los Poblanos, and got to work.

Rather than paint in acrylic, I decided to try out some tube egg tempera paints I'd ordered online a few months ago. I know, it's cheating, but I figured it'd be a decent way to test out the medium to see if I liked it. I started with a little underpainting, giving the bird a yellow base coat. I also thought I'd give the painting a red background to contrast with what would eventually be a green bird.

The next night I added orange and red where I would be painting darker greens. I changed my painting style for this painting, using the traditional method of small hatched stroked typically associated with egg tempera. Admittedly I was more free form in the background.

                             

On the next night I started to turn the bird green, adding translucent layers over the yellow and orange base coats.

The next night I continued the same application, and began fleshing out the jingle bell. Things were going fine, until I got bored. My enthusiasm for the project waned as I began remembering the other sketches I'd wanted to work with, and began struggling to finish the piece. I didn't mind working on the still life, but the background was not coming out as I'd hoped. I needed to do something, and fast. 

Then I remembered all the Hershey foils I've been collecting for the last few years. As you may recall, I had used foil on a trio of prints a few years ago. I had even considered using it on my first Christmas ornament still life, but had opted for painting the background instead. This time, I decided to give it a shot. If nothing else, it'd be a playful reference to the gold leaf traditionally used on egg tempera altarpieces, albeit much less expensive or delicate.

After two nights, I had covered the background in foil. From there, I went about finishing the painting. Here is where I ended up:

I'm not sure I consider this a finished work. It's still rough around the edges, and if I were more interested in it I'd make it a little neater and add a few more details. I also wasn't as careful with the foil I should have been, and had a lot of overlapping which I could have avoided if I'd cut more precise pieces. Regardless, it was a new experience, and I'm glad I tried it.