Bette Davis Eyes: Dogwood

Titled for the Kim Carnes song "Bette Davis Eyes."

The background is hand-laid gouache, dense in some places and thin enough to show the layer beneath in others. The brushwork stays visible, and the branch leads your eye across to the open blossom and bud at the center right.

The Delft and Prussian blues change with the light. The gouache is velvety matte, but at certain angles (and in photographs) the surface catches the light and picks up a soft sheen. In direct light the saturation shifts and the blue starts to glow.  

Painted on Arches hot press paper in Schmincke Professional and Winsor & Newton Designers gouache, with QoR watercolor, colored pencil, and Neocolor II wax pastel over the top.

This original is signed and unsealed, as gouache is meant to be. It is matted in a Bainbridge 100% cotton rag archival mat over archival backing board and framed under glass in a Crate & Barrel Icon Wood tabletop frame, poplar with a black finish. Hang it with the two sawtooth hangers or stand it on the easel back. The title, size, signature, year, and certification number are on the back.

The paper measures 12 x 9 inches, with a 1/4 inch white border that sits behind the mat. The mat measures 14 x 12 inches outside, and the window opens to 11 x 8 1/4 inches. The framed piece measures about 15 3/8 x 13 3/8 inches and is 1 1/8 inches deep.

Keep it away from damp rooms, heat, and direct sun. Please don't open the frame.

About ten tiny tape-bleed smears sit under the mat edge and aren't visible framed.  

Originals come with a signed Certification of Authenticity and a signed Collector's Note.