Wednesday, April 06, 2011

All That Glitters is Gold? Using Gold Leaf in Paintings.

After spending quite a lot of time looking at art and thinking about what I really like ... which ended up being art with abstracted figures and faces in it ...  I have gone off and started a series of non representational works.  I decided to work in one size, 24 in square, as I already had several in this size and I like the look of a grouping of work all in the same size. The two I am currently working on are in a limited palette of black, white, grey, red and gold the gold being gold leaf.  I love the way gold leaf glitters when the light catches it.  I am not sure if they are quite finished yet but in the meantime this is what they look like.


Gold leaf is a bit tricky to work with.  It has a tendency to fly away from where you are trying to put it if you even breathe on it.  You lay down a glue where you want the gold leaf and then you have to wait until the glue is almost dry before you lay the leaf on and smooth it down with a soft brush.  Finally you have to fluff away the pieces of leaf that are not caught by the glue.  Hopefully then you have leaf where you want it.  I also have a glue pen which enables the creation of quite interesting lines in gold leaf.

Doing the non realistic paintings has made me quite unsettled about what direction I want to go in my art but I guess that's part of the allure of doing art, it's such a voyage of discovery.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

Susanne: I've always liked your abstract work. It still has your recognizable style. After a series maybe you need to do an abstract to "clear your palate". These looks great in any case.

Susanne said...

Thanks Donna. I'm enjoying working on these and like the fact that the series are almost all the same size.

Donna Iona Drozda said...

Hi Susanne
I smile about the "unsettled" part since that uneasiness fits so well with the opportunity to set new goals...come to the edge...and fly into new realms.
I love the size of this new series and your limited palette...the gold is so elegant, a word that usually comes to mind when I see your work.
Happy spring!!

Susanne said...

Thank you Donna. The uneasiness I feel and the setting of new goals fits well too with what you have been saying in your blog. Winter is a great incubation time and allowing new goals to awaken as the spring starts to unfold is such a meaningful idea.

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