You know those treasures we can still find in second-hand stores, the paintings painted on real velvet? They gave me the idea of starting with a black canvas, which is the opposite of how I have traditionally worked. Using different blues, reds, and yellows, I mixed my own blacks, then layered thin washes on the canvas until the surface reached a rich matt finish. This formed the base for the brush marks I placed on top, the marks thick and thin, opaque and transparent, with their edges jagged or smooth depending on how the brush draws across the canvas. The dark grounds make the colours pop, but also the dark grounds make a wonderful surface to draw on. Below you can see the steps I took to paint a Black Velvet painting.
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