Marsha Whitesides Piper

Getting better - will work on this until I'm satisfied then I'll start the color - my whole objective with this entire enterprise! By the way, I use 1500 grit sand paper cloth, wet, to sand down ridges of paint in-between each days work if there are any. I don't use any medium at this stage.

Sure wish there was a way to put more than one photo is a post, then I could write the whole thing together instead of piece meal - last step on top of first ones! Anyway... Here, I'm using a brush to put on flake white - actually I used some Cremitz white here - that's been thinned with mineral spirits or turps. I started with the brush to get the stuff on there, then I smoothed it out with my thumb.

After polishing with the Never Dull and cleaning several times with the alcohol, I then use ca.400 grit wet/dry sand paper to take off the red curprous oxide (CU2O) formed by reaction between surface of copper and oxygen in the air. You can see the fine powder that's on the sand paper and the difference between the cleaned side/dirty side. This abrading, done in small circles with dry sand paper and quite abit of pressure, is what allow the paint to bond with the copper. I think an ion is exchanged between oil paint and the metal, but don't know the science exactly - only that it works! Then I clean off any red dust that is left behind, again with the alcohol. Now it's ready to accept the ground of thinned flake white.

Never Dull - a metal polishing batting that works well. Denatured Alchohol 400 grit wet/dry sand paper flake white oil paint thinned with a bit of mineral spirits

I love painting on copper! But as with most painting supports - linen, panel, canvas or wall, there is much work that must be done before I can even think about painting on it. Here is a 12 x 12  18 gauge copper panel. Paint will  not adhere to the surface as it is and MUST be thoroughly cleaned and abraded .