Speed and Time (Peregrine Falcon)

For those looking for something truly unique, this is artwork like no other. It was drawn using a 24-carat gold wedding ring on art paper treated with a special undercoat that allows the transfer of the gold metal to the paper sheet by a process of abrasion.

Gordon Hanley is an internationally recognised Living Master and the world’s leading exponent of the Renaissance art of silverpoint. These drawings can take over 200 hours of studio time to complete and may consist of over 1 million individual marks of the metal to gradually build up the image. This medium is non-correctible – once a gold line is drawn, it cannot be altered or erased – one mistake and the drawing could be lost. These golden artworks will outlast oil paintings and will remain unchanged for many hundreds, if not thousands of years.

  “Speed and Time” is a drawing of the fastest animal on Earth – the Peregrine Falcon, perched on an old disintegrating branch from which the bird is about to take flight.

 Gordon uses only the finest materials for his goldpoints. The paper for his drawings is Arches Hot Press: infinity grade, acid free, mould resistant and is the same stock used by the Louvre Museum for its reproductions. The marble dust for the grounds is from Carrara in Italy, the source of the purest white marble in the world and it is the same quarry from which the statue of David was cut.

Gold, platinum and silver are pure metals sourced from Australian mines. Because of the high-quality materials and the fact that gold and platinum do not change or tarnish, these drawings will remain unchanged for thousands of years.

Gordon’s work has been exposed to a much wider audience through the introduction of prints, biscuit tins, tapestry, placemats, jigsaw puzzles and calendars, which means more people will get to know his work and it will become more valuable.

He has received critical acclaim both in Australia and overseas.

Metalpoint drawing by ARC Living Master Gordon Hanley