Klimt inspired mixed-media canvas based on a lesson by Ivy Newport

I've been trying to keep up with all the inspiration online for the past few weeks and ended up with a growing list of "must try" techniques and projects on my to-do list. When I saw this free lesson by Ivy Newport, I couldn't resist it -  I had to jump straight into it, abandoning all my WIPs!

It is a deceptively simple and quick project. I chose an 8" X 8" canvas as my substrate and started out by adhering a tissue background with an old map print. (Ivy used a patterned napkin, but I didn't have anything suitable.) I used the same girl figure that Ivy shared with us as I really liked it. I cut a circle from patterned paper, being mindful that these will represent my main colours. This is what my collage looked like at this point:

On closer inspection, I should have made sure that the grid in the print lined up with the edges of the canvas, but it doesn't really matter as most of  the background got covered up in the process, anyway. 

Next, I painted over the background with a mixture of gesso and Golden's quinacridone nickel azo  gold acrylics, which reflected the orange tones in the patterned paper beautifully. For the dress I chose a pretty ultramarine violet to echo the little flowers in the patterned paper. At this point, it already looked pretty good because the colours worked so well together! 

After this layer was dry, I added a pattern to the dress in a darker shade of violet/blue and a bit of gold to channel the style of Klimt and finished it off with some doodling, following Ivy's prompts. Here's is the final picture: 

You can see better how the gold shimmers from this angle:

This angle show how the image wraps around the canvas:

Here's  gif  to show whole process again:

 

This was such a fun and satisfying lesson!

Thank you Ivy!