Introduction

This tutorial shows how with a few touches of gold or silver leaf, a painting can be elevated. It can be used for anything from subtle highlights, to a striking and original background on a portrait, and everything in between.

I am using imitation leaf to make the experiments affordable and fun without worrying about the cost of authentic gold leaf. It is widely available in art shops and online.

I have used a variety of pastel paper and sanded surfaces such as Canson Mi-Teintes, Art Spectrum Colourfix Original, Sennelier Pastel Card and Canson Mi-Touch in this video. It is also very effective on PastelMat. The sanded surfaces add another dimension and sparkle to the finished shine with their natural textures.

Time is needed to let the glue dry to a ‘tacky’ stage before applying the gold leaf (in my sunny conditions I wait 10/15 minutes, and again another 30 minutes to an hour to let the gold leaf adhere fully, before brushing away the excess, so don’t rush the process.

I would love to see what inventive ways you find to use gold or silver leaf to your work…