April 07, 2008

Fun with Gold Leaf

This is a little portrait of Amber. She's pretty special. Also, gold leaf is a bear to work with. I've wanted to experiment with the stuff since learning how the old masters used it. I even went through the trouble of using birch board and applying copious layers of gesso to (try to) conceal the woodgrain. I even applied a coat of bright cadmium red to produce as authentic a substrate as possible to simulate the traditional gold technique.

Applying the leaf was a dual practice in patience and not needing to breath. But most of my readers who are experts in reattaching sun-burned skin flakes to the tender shoulder with a slow-drying glue and brush-on sealer would have little trouble mastering the art.

The unframed piece is 17x30cm oil and gold leaf on board and resides upon my desk at work. Poor-quality image was produced with uncontrolled natural light and a Casio Exilim EX-Z200.


Posted by timf at April 7, 2008 04:36 PM
Comments

I commend your patience to endure that copious amount of work. =D It looks great, Tim!

Posted by: Tom at April 8, 2008 05:07 PM

gold leaf is awful.
but oh so addicting...

Posted by: gwen at April 17, 2008 10:55 PM

Gwen, tell me about it! I foolishly started another two paintings with gold-leaf-appropriate subject matter. I'm addicted. Sadly.

Posted by: timf at April 18, 2008 11:35 AM
Post a comment

Please note: Comments will not appear immediately. Your comment will appear upon approval by the blog's editor. We had to implement this to decrease the amount of spam that our site receives. Please forgive the inconvenience. We are looking into other, friendlier options.










Remember personal info?



Receive an email if someone
else comments on this post?

(by leaving this box checked you will also receive your own comment via email to confirm your subscription)