Charles Larry Fischer founded the Monterey Sculpture Center in 1978. His painstaking quest to develop unique patina colors eventually evolved into worldwide acclaim in the art foundry business.
“I was unable to find good information on the patinisation of bronze (the process of coloring bronze), so I experimented for months developing colors new colors. Along with these developments came awareness that polished bronze along with the application of transparent patinas offered a brightness that could not be achieved on canvas,“ says Fischer.
After nine years of experimentation, Fischer completed his first successful patina painting on bronze sheet. The pressure of running a large foundry kept his ideas unfulfilled until the 1990’s. At that time he began producing his original patina paintings. Fischer has developed the techniques over many years. It involves a variety of tools and processes to achieve. The sheet bronze must be of proper copper content, hardness and thickness to achieve what you see. The sheet must be prepared to accept the chemicals. After the preparation and cleaning of the sheet, the design is sketched, and then ground, sanded, etched, burnished or electro-plated into the surface of the sheet.
Once the image is complete then the application of the chemicals begins. The chemicals are applied hot and/or cold, using a variety of brushes and multiple layering’s. Varying strengths of chemicals are used to achieve light and dark areas, bright or dull, transparent or opaque, shiny or flat. Much of the success of the images comes from a certain spontaneity that Fischer achieves through practice and the process itself. After the painting is completed, it is left to dry, then heated and sealed to protect the surface from moisture and UV rays. Because of the 3-D effect, the importance of proper lighting cannot be overemphasized. A single light source, from above and away from the painting is usually enough. As you walk past the paining it will appear to change, as it will with different lighting situations.
