It’s been a while since doing anything on gold leaf, and it was quite fun to get back into this medium. This technique is really much easier than it seems, and the trick really is not to put very much paint on the surface. Let the gold leaf itself shine and be the star performer. Remember the adage, less is more. I did not put any paint at all in the background area.
I began with an ampersand panel, which I gold leafed as per my consultation with George O’Hanlon at Natural Pigments. He advised using Mixtion Size and gold leaf, because it is more compatible with the oil paint. Here I did not use real gold, but the composition type, which is much less expensive though still very beautiful.
To begin, I covered the entire surface with Galkyd because I wanted the tackiness quickly. In this detail, you can see the thick oil paint laid in just where I wanted it. You can make the paint thick or thin just as if you were painting on a regular toned panel or canvas. Just make sure you don’t get paint outside of the area. You can do that, but it will leave a dull area on the gold leaf.
In the lace area, I really piled on the paint with lots of impasto. First, burnt umber was laid in the area along with some lead tin yellow and cinnabar. Always make a ground with varieties of color, which will glow through the openings in the lace. You never want solid dark, as it will look dense. By adding other colors in the ground, it will appear translucent.
Because I wanted the brightest focus area to be in the doily, I muted the brightness of the silver dollars here on the left. This was a mixture of burnt umber, white, and lead tin yellow. If you squint, you can see how it becomes a part of the background.
The final painting, yet untitled, is small at only 6×6 inches, a perfect modello size and easy to handle. Remember to varnish when the painting is dry. If you do not use pure gold, it will tarnish. Next will be something done on silver leaf which I will write about soon. What has been your experience using gold or silver leaf. Leave a comment and let me know.
Copyright Margret E. Short, 2015 Oil on Gold Leaf
See more posts about gold leaf on this site here.