Bud Root-Michels

Bud Root-Michels, Paintings

In Italy and France, Bud Root-Michels was privileged to closely observe how the Renaissance Masters executed their underpainting.  

They would draw with a terra-cotta shard or charcoal directly on the canvas.  In this important stage, they drew nearly all their grey values.  Many then finished their paintings with a series of transparent oil color glazes.  This is why the underpainting was so critical.

Bud chose to stop at this intriguing underpainting stage and add the reflective beauty of 23K gold leaf rather than colored glazes.  He has been inspired by the early icon and medieval artists extensive use of gold leaf.  He hopes that his omission of colored glazes will include the viewer as “co-creator.” In this series of paintings, graphite is the beginning and gold leaf is the completion.