Oil Paintings by Deborah Bertola

This charming image of our local icon, The Golden Gate Bridge, was painted from Baker Beach (on the San Francisco Side of the Bridge). It is painted on a homemade canvas (linen with rabbit skin glue, and several coats of "true" (i.e., oil) gesso). It is hard to find anything like these canvases today. They must be custom made, which is very labor-intensive, and therefore expensive. My right hand was injured three years ago which has prevented me from making my own any more. It was a nice feeling to go through the entire process. I call this part "the craft" of painting. There is a lot of science and technology that goes into a painting. I had no idea when I started, but was fortunate to have had excellent teachers early on.