The canvas is a sheet of metal and the paints are small jars of dissolved metal salts, each with a dedicated brush - a regular paintbrush but with a conducting rod that extends through the handle and halfway into the brush portion.

Since each stroke will have the transparency of a water colour, it requires several applications to get a solid pigmentation; conversely some metals can be layered on top of each other for mixture and shading.

The matte deposition finish can be polished to a brilliance; even further texture/colour variations can be added, using an oxidation brush, prior to the clear coat paint finish.

There's a separate reversed-polarity tank for cleaning the brushes.

(yes, electroplating brushes exist... for electroplating objects, not producing artwork)
-- FlyingToaster, Jul 26 2010

and I want it on this: Au_20naturel_20car_20finish
custom electroplate job before the clearcoat [FlyingToaster, Jul 27 2010]

Titanium in Technicolor http://www.popsci.c...itanium-technicolor
Anodising stencils onto titanium. [Loris, Jul 27 2010]

Are there enough types of material that can be applied in this manner? many materials require unique substrates or solutions to allow them to be plated.
-- jhomrighaus, Jul 26 2010


Durable plating needs the right substrate, but many metals can be plated onto most others, as long as they don't have to stick firmly.
-- MaxwellBuchanan, Jul 26 2010


How many different colors of metal are there?
-- mouseposture, Jul 26 2010


silvery, goldy, platinumy, irony, coppery, leady, tinny....wait, I see the problem here...
-- MaxwellBuchanan, Jul 26 2010


98% sure I have seen this or a similar approach for painting space scenes. It is a good idea.
-- bungston, Jul 26 2010


//colours// I think you could get quite a workable range of colours: the pink of fresh copper, the green of oxidised copper, the red of oxidised iron, the purple of uranium, etc.

Since you probably wouldn't want the finished result to oxidise further, a final clear plastic coating would be applied.
-- FlyingToaster, Jul 27 2010


//colors// For pure metal, about half a dozen then, which might be enough, though they'd all have rather similar lustre (like Tiffany glass, maybe). Oxides expand the palette quite a bit, though, and I, for one, would find that breathtaking. (I also enjoy photographs of corroded metal and peeling paint. So sue me.) Needs some mechanism for site- selective oxidation, though.

That said, one of my favorite paintings is done partly in sheet lead, and the rest in grey paint of a similar shade -- so one doesn't necessarily need lots of colors to make Art. [+]
-- mouseposture, Jul 27 2010


I think it would be an odd palette: blue gives orange, and so on.
-- Ling, Jul 27 2010


//site-selective oxidation// acid brush.
-- FlyingToaster, Jul 27 2010


I like the idea of electroplating with different metals for different effects.
The oxidation thing is already done - apparently it works particularly well with titanium (see link).
-- Loris, Jul 27 2010


FT, Surely AuAl2 would be a cheaper choice to produce purple. Uranium's cost per pound is approximately 25,000 times that of gold.
-- goldbb, Jul 27 2010


I like this one, like lots.
-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, Jul 29 2010


Vanadium!!! It has 4 oxidation states (+2 lilac, +3 green, +4 blue, +5 yellow). Now how to selectively achieve these might be a chemistry problem that's beyond me... Too bad it's a bit toxic.
-- cowtamer, Jul 29 2010


//vanadium...toxic// Unless further oxidation of the painting is a goal, you'd want to clearcoat it when completed.

Never fear though, the high voltage needed to paint would provide enough of a Darwinian entertainment value.
-- FlyingToaster, Jul 29 2010



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