1. Stick the aluminium foil onto the canvas. This creates the wrinkles which form your texture.
2. After this has dried, add black acrylic to the edge of the canvas with the wet flat brush, then draw the paint in about 5cm (2in) more towards the centre of the canvas.
3. Add ochre with the spatula and draw the colours into each other.

1. Work your colours from the edge inwards. By manipulating the spatula, you can sometimes let the background flash through, and sometimes cover over the foil.
2. Use a wet cloth to draw the line of the golden section.
3. Wipe a little bit over the painted surface so that even more silver shines through.

1. Soak the small bristle brush with water.
2. Lift the canvas and go over the dividing horizontal line with the brush (for the golden section).
3. Let the paint run down.
4. Loosen the paint at the top and let it run over the painting as well.
5. Let everything dry out.

1. Using the flat brush, apply (thin) fast blue to the horizontal section as well.
2. Use the spatula to apply white and ochre selectively.
3. Mix the colours as well and apply them elsewhere. This way you will get lots of colours.
4. Let it dry again.

1. Apply another layer of paint to the image, starting in the upper two-thirds and using a light shade of blue - fast blue mixed with white. 
2. Now use your wet bristle brush again and brush over the entire space with it.
3. Then take the other bristle brush, which is dry (and should be kept dry all the time), and brush it over the surface. This way you remove any brush marks and obtain a uniform colour surface.
4. Now take a dry cloth and dab some paint away.
5. With a wet cloth (it should not drip), wipe off some of the paint completely.
6. Brush a dark blue (Parisian blue) over the lower space. Proceed in the same way as before at the top.
7. Wipe off some paint here and there so that the aluminium foil shines through completely. Then work the dark blue around the edge into the upper space as well. This is how you connect the two-coloured spaces together.
8. Let your painting dry once again.

1. Look at your picture from a distance and see if you like it so far.
2. To add a kind of patina on the picture, so that it doesn't look so fresh, take your ochre and apply it selectively. Again, apply it with the brush and blur the paint with the dry bristle brush.
3. Take the spatula and emphasize the folds of the foil here and there by stroking it flat again over the peaks.
4. Take black and apply it thinly to the lower space.
5. Again, wipe off some of the paint with a cloth to create light and dark areas.
6. Let it dry.

The finished painting

Put your picture where you want to hang it. Take your time and look at it. Decide whether you want to go over the surface again. You can repeat the steps as often as you like, making it lighter or darker.

For more top ideas and advice for painting abstracts, see Petra's book, Abstract Painting, in our bookstore.