Olympic Gold

I finished today the acrylic painting I've been working on to complete my Olympic ice hockey series. This particular piece I had a hard time envisioning when I first decided I was going to take it on. All I had in mind was a portrayal of Olympic gold victory - and to make the image nondescript as to whether it was a men's or women's victory:

So this is how I began:
I decided that the final image would remain in the abstract (but less cartoony!), remain nondescript, but that I needed to do something to make the colours more accessible as bold whites and reds can often be too bold for one's home decor!


So I painted in my detail, and then layered on paint using my palette knives of various shapes and sizes to neutralize to some extent the bright colours and make my final image. The highlights of gold are intentional - to show past Olympic golds for Canada, and in hopes of future golds to come, perhaps in 2010 (touch wood). This painting will hang proudly in my home, unless with some luck for me (touch wood again), I can find a place to display this proudly during the Vancouver 2010 games. Go Canada Go!