Gold leaf?

[Coleb]

Anyone ever used gold leaf on a painting? Sorry if this has been discussed before - I did a search, but got no specific results.

I´m wondering if you can glaze over the gold leaf and get an interesting reflective effect. I´ve seen it used in an icon as a surround or on the surface of a painting like Klimt, but I´m wondering if it can be used to enhance the illusion of depth, rather than a shiny flat surface on top of or around a painted image.

Given the price, I´m also wondering about the use of an imitation and it´s application - can you use a gel medium or something other than the leaf adhesive they sell? Is the imitation really noticeably inferior? Other materials like copper or silver leaf?

Thanks!

[Ilaekae]

Gold and siler leave are used on paintings all the time, especially in some cultures. The leaf's surface characteristics are what adds the nice stuff to the painting. I'm guessing that it could be used as an underlayment for another color to make it look "metal flake," but I could forsee some problems.

The traditional method for adhering leaf it use an underlying color (red for gold, blue for silver) and then a thin slow-drying varnish as an adhesive. The questions you have to answer are...

1. how will the "adhesive" affect the paint placed on top of it?

2. The metal is impermeable in theory. Is there enough surface roughness or "grip" to hold the paint going down on top of it? I'm guessing if it's on a canvas, or erratically aplied, there would be enough voids to at least anchor enough of the paint to form a decent adhesion. I know that varnish has been applied to fake gold leaf and silver to prevent oxidation, so...can this varnish be treated or thined in some fashion to allow paint to adhere to IT?

Acrylic mediums dont adhere permanently to metal surfaces, but is the surface again rough enough to allow the medium to at least anchor to the "roughness" so you can then glaze ove it? I'm guess thin applications of glazes directly applied would be okay in any media if you didn't end up with something so thick ultimately that would be prone to cracking. This means the "chip" would automatically separate at the bond between the metal and the overpainting. A solid substrate like wood or a panel rather than stretched canvas would help here.

3. Possibility of another approach, though it could be dangerous if your're a slob by nature. Micro-powder copper, silver,aluminum and fake gold mixed directly with an appropriate medium, depending on what your painting with, could be used instead of leaf. It would never tarnish, and multiple layer could be applied, even between layers of other color glazes, or the percentage of metal to medium could be so high it would almost be a paste.

This IS DANGEROUS! the metal powders are lethal if inhaled or spilled, and can hang around for weeks as a poison, not good if you have kids running around, so you CAN NOT be sloppy here--masks, sealed sites, no fans or such to scatter the powders, etc.

What yo would get would be a paste of at least heavy pigment metal paint that you would have no problem working over top of.

[Lord Of All Bunnies]

A very good imitation gold leaf is
Nazionale, gold imitation leaf
it comes in 14" x 14" sheets and is made in italy

[alesoun]

My husband paints icons, among other things; and quite often he uses gold paint instead of gold leaf. His process; not mine to tell,- but I know he puts it over a red underlay, and he mostly works in acrylics, I'm not giving away state secrets there.

A local(ish) artist uses a lot of gold leaf in her work, but I don't have her email addy, and she likes to go on holiday a lot. Give me time and I can ask her,- when I can catch her.

PM me if you want, and I can ask my husband for reference for you. He might tell you tips and tricks directly, or he might give you a list of books so you can check it out yourself,

Not sure what you mean by depth. Would bas relief do it for you?

[Ilaekae]

I think he was referring to the visual depth, Luv, like putting a bazillion transparent layers of something over the leaf so it kind of gleams through the appled paint layers, like the way they used to do metal-flake car finishes in the 'fifyies. The base coat had sparkly metal bits in it that showed up and made the car gleam and dance when the light hit it through the overlaid transparent lacquers...

[Qitsune]

You can buy metal flake paint that is basically mica flakes in acrylics medium for silver or mica in medium with yellow pigment for gold. It works great. As for painting on metal, I have painted with acrylics on some tin boxes years ago and the finish still looks great. The glazes do let some of the reflexion of the metal through.

[Coleb]

Ilaekae - that´s exactly the effect I was thinking of, thank you.

I´m working in oil - so maybe this is entirely academic. But I figure icons and such were originally done in oils so it must be possible to mix the two.

I have read that the effect is better if the leaf is applied to a flat surface as it is more reflective. I´m thinking a gessoed panel.

It´s good to know there are quality imitations - given the associated cost. And since an oil painting would have to be varnished anyway, preventing tarnishing wouldn´t seem to be a problem.

Thanks everyone!

[Ilaekae]

Since you're working with oils, you shouldn't have any problems at all with paint adhesion or interactions with the leaf "glue" (varnish), since there'll be no compatibility problems.

[chaosrocks]

and applying the leaf is the most nitpicky tedious horrible sticky frustrating task I have ever encountered. but the results are cool

crx