COPPER GOLDEN RATIO SET FOR OIL PAINTING

Copper Golden Ratio Oil Painting Set
 
3 things are included in this set:
1. Copper specially made using the Golden Ratio to inspire beautiful compositions
2. Wooden Golden Ratio Composition Tool
3. Wooden Palette based around the Golden Ratio
 
Scroll through this photo essay with videos while reading about this Copper Golden Ratio Oil Painting Set. It’s a cure for SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder); when I feel SAD I look at the warm salmony glowing colours of copper. These photos were taken against onion skin tint, itself a warm dye and the whole montage is reminiscent of Olafur Eliasson’s sun installation at Tate Modern years ago when people sunbathed indoors at the gallery, my husband and I included, under its effusive radiance.
 
COPPER
Our copper is printed on one side with a beautiful, inspiring quotation so you can use it as a mantelpiece display or cherished bookmark before you contemplate painting. Our current iteration’s quotation is from the Mahabharata. This quotation always sends shivers down my spine and it is perfect for the cabinet of curiosities paintings yet to be created on these surfaces.  The printed side is actually the reverse. 
The painting is done on the front. Turn the copper around and you will see that the front of the copper has a protective sheet stuck to it. Peel off this sheet only when you are ready to begin painting. If you are enrolled on one of the Cabinet of Curiosities painting classes we will do this preparatory ritual together. The copper is stamped with our genuine maker’s marks so you can be sure you are buying quality and it comes with pre-sanded edges to protect your hands, although since it is still metal please handle it with the appropriate safety precautions and regard that you would accord any metal sheet.
 
COMPOSITION TOOL
The Golden Ratio compositional tool is a wooden stencil which you can use to find the golden ratio on your copper. Place the stencil carefully over the copper, as in the video, and trace the inside of the stencil. You will end up with a Golden spiral that exactly corresponds to your copper and you can then use this to plan and design your image.
 
PALETTE
The wooden palette is based around the Golden Ratio and is shaped like a traditional artist’s palette with finger hole, which was made of wood, and designed to be cradled in the hand or set on your desk. The small size encourages neatness and small amounts of paint and helps to plan your colours accordingly.
 
HOW TO USE
When you receive the set please make sure you unpack it on a clean surface and carefully peel off the masking tape. 
Pop out the inner spiral of the compositional tool. What remains is your stencil.
Discard the L-shaped frame of the copper. You may now handle the copper. Please retain the protective sheet on the copper until you are ready to begin painting. 
Pop out the palette and set aside ready for painting. 
Using the stencil: Place your copper on a clean piece of card or equivalent on your desk. Carefully place the compositional tool on top of the copper and be sure to line up all the edges of the spiral with the edges of the copper. It will fit exactly. Take a pencil, firmly hold the stencil and draw decisively inside the spiral. Lift off the stencil and you will be left with a Golden spiral correspondent to your copper with which you can imagine your paintings. Compositional help will be given during class also.
 
ON COPPER
There is something magical and mysterious about copper. Although in the classes we will be using that most western of mediums, oil paint (which incidentally was first used in Afghanistan and Chinese caves but never taken up as fully and completely as in the west), copper retains a link to the east and lamps and copper trays and binding jinn. We will bind oil paint to its smooth surface to create delicate and glowing small paintings. We’ll start with the beautiful, pristine warm copper surface and then later explore other surfaces such as wood, cotton and linen canvas, primed paper… you can paint oils on anything (you may just need to protect the surface). Oils on copper are the most lasting and vibrant of the old master works; the vibrant colours are preserved better on its metal surface and the warm glow of the copper ground strikes through - the ground always strikes through. For more on the Cabinets of Curiosities Class series, of which this is a companion materials and tools set, see here: www.vaishaliprazmariteaching.com > Classes > Cabinet of Curiosities.
 
Copper is mood-enhancing and its unique colour - also called copper - is uplifting and a cure for melancholy. And (al)chemically, copper has generated many startling colours. Copper’s children include favourites such as copper sulphate (CuSO4) and the copper carbonates are the most beautiful blues and greens. Copper is an element in itself. Cu… soon online, I hope ~