Gold
Leaf Paintings : Technique and
Inspiration.
My new gold leaf paintings are created using a
traditional technique unchanged from the Proto Renaissance Period, made famous
by artists such as Giotto in the early 14thC.
It is a painstaking and slow process involving the application of multiple
layers of Gesso and rabbit skin glue onto wooden panels.
After applying your panel with 12 to 18 layers of Gesso you then sand and
polish it and cover it in a red clay bole. This clay layer is then polished and
24 carat gold leaf is applied on top using a water gilding technique. This
method allows the gold to be burnished to high, mirror like, shine.
Originally used in religious Icon painting, the gold would be embellished with
punch work or with raised areas (low relief or pastiglia) of gesso. I’m interested in the
relationship between the flat reflective gilded surfaces and fully rendered oil
painting.
I endeavour to marry contemporary portrait painting of
the modern woman with a 700 year old decorative art technique, an alchemy of
paint and gold, one emerging out of the other.
My gold leaf works do not have a religious narrative, as my work is more
humanist in tone, but I like to utilise the uplifting and divine element
the medium gives.
Light also plays a part in the viewing experience, with the work changing
colour and brightness depending on the time of day and levels of ambient light.
Each of these gold leaf panels can take up to 20 weeks to complete with layers
of 24 carat gold being used and then burnished to a very high shine.