It’s been over twenty years now since I started working on the idea of a gilding class specifically for Fine artists for works of art on canvas, panels, and paper. It was in response directly from artists who are always looking for innovative ways of incorporating gold, silver, and other metal leafs into their art.
The use of gilding for works of art has an extensive, beautiful, sometimes tumultuous history. We are informed by 4thc Byzantine Icons after the Early Roman Empire to the 16thc influence of European tradition on the Cusco School of painting in Peru following Spanish conquest, some of the paintings I was fortunate to see during the exhibit: Peru: Kingdoms of the Sun and Moon at the Seattle Art Museum in 2013. There is the long tradition of Florentine gilded and egg tempera panel paintings from 13th to 18thc Firenze as seen at the Uffizi Gallery. have the work of Gustav Klimt, the 19thc Austrian Symbolist who during his ten year Golden Period created some of his most well-known artworks where he made prolific use of gilding including The Kiss, Beethoven Frieze, and Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I which hangs on permanent display at the Neue Galerie in New York which I often visit on my trips when I teach in New York, informing my own gilding sensibilities whenever I take time to study her. Many of Klimt’s Works may be seen in the Klimt Collection at the Belvedere in Vienna.
Contemporary Gilded Paintings
Some of my earliest students brought to my attention the works of contemporary artists Brad Kunkle and Fred Wessel, who over the years have become friends and colleagues. Their work is singular with Brad’s ethereal paintings in oil using the mordant gilding method providing a subtle but dramatic ground for the dreamlike quality of his figurative paintings while Fred’s exquisite Egg Tempera Panel Paintings makes extensive use of Traditional Water Gilding, reminiscent of the early Mosaics of Ravenna with jewels embedded in the gesso surrounded with Granito - punchwork and incision which adds dimension to the water gilded surface.
Gilding for Works of Art Classes: New York
There are two versions of my Gilding for Works of Art…A Study For Fine Artists - In Person and Online - which continues to evolve to meet the needs of the artist student. The In-person class is currently a one day Intensive offered primarily in New York at both Sepp Leaf Products in Lower Manhattan and at the Isabel O’Neil Studio on the Upper Eastside where I hold weekend classes under special arrangement 2-3 times a year.
People learn in different ways and so the two different formats are appealing in different ways as well. Working with students in-person allows close interaction where I can monitor how a student approaches the technical aspects of gilding - handling the gold leaf, applying the oil size or water based adhesive, smoothing the gessoed panel by hand. I can help personally guide the atudent for quick corrections and suggestions. And there is a social interaction between students which I always find wonderful, watching a shared purpose foster new friendships that carry into the future.
Gilding for Works of Art Classes: Online on Zoom
The Online format on Zoom offers a different type of benefit: we get to slow down. And that can be helpful as we take each step of a particular method and break it down to a lesson a week such as creating a golden ground with a mordant suitable for canvas and 23k gold leaf.
The structure of the class is divided into increments keeping the learning process from becoming overwhelming while remaining challenging. During each weekly session which can run from anywhere from a single 90 minute Masterclass to a full 12 week program we have a 30 minute Question and Answer period where students and I can discuss any question that comes up related to the topic.
These Live Online classes are also Recorded for students to review up to 6 months after the series ends as often as they like. This is especially helpful for students in different timezones or if someone need to miss a class. Sometimes students will choose the option of simply watching the recorded version of the Live class which includes listening to the Question/Answer periods. And amazingly, I still notice how friendships continue to be built, sharing stories, successes, concerns, from Sweden to San Francisco!
What Students Learn in Gilding For Works Of Art
One of my ultimate goals in this class is to teach students how to apply gold leaf to canvas. We begin both the In-Person and Online series using water-based adhesive (acrylic emulsion) on a prepared acrylic-gessoed canvas board which we gild with either brass or aluminum leaf, often referred to as imitation gold or silver leaf. This provides a gilded ground to first coat with an MSA varnish to protect the leaf and GAC 200 and 500 as an isolating coat to protect the removeable varnish. The ground is then ready for painting in either acrylics or oil of which the differences, alternatives, and caveats are discussed.
We then progress to using 23k gold leaf with an emphasis on how to handle loose gold leaf by placing it on the gilder’s pad, cutting it with the special gilder’s knife, and picking it up with the Gilder’s ‘Tip’, the thin, long Sable or Squirrel-haired brush used specifically for picking up gold leaf with the aid of natural skin or hair oil rubbed along the hairs. The gold is then applied to the prepared canvas, gently tamped with a soft hand-made pad or soft brush and left to dry.
Throughout the gilding class and online program we explore the use of both contemporary acrylic mordants including the Sepp Leaf Workshop brand of Water Based Adhesive/acrylic emulsion, and Kölner’s Instacoll and Miniatum Ink which can be used on objects from wood and leather to glass and paper. Students also experience the historical preparations and use of ancient mordants through demonstration as we work with gum ammoniac and glair (beaten egg white).
Alongside these demonstrations of applyying gold leaf to canvas as well as panel boards and paper I like to show how these mordants can be used freehand on a surface or combined with Rubber Stamping and Linocuts on cold pressed watercolor paper.
Kolcaustico Venetian Plaster
Adding texture to canvas, panels, or walls as a form of expression can add complexity to a gilded surface. Sand has historically been added to traditional gesso to provide contrast on water gilded frames. Raised gesso, sometimes referred to as Pastiglia is a technique where a design is drawn by hand in gesso on frames and furniture as well as on paper and vellum in manuscript illumination.
The technique of using Venetian Plaster has a very long and beautiful tradition for decorative interior walls. With advances in acrylic mediums it would only be a matter of time before it joined the field of Venetian Plasters as a contemporary option for decorative plastering.
Kolcaustico is a modern acrylic version of traditional Venetian Plaster which I have been incorporating in the class Gilding for Works of Art for artists seeking alternative ways to introduce raised textures in their paintings on canvas and panels. Kolcaustico flows on in a smooth fashion when applied with a spatula and can be built-up fairly quickly and left to dry. This acrylic plaster as a ground for gilding dries quite hard which allows for a nice brilliancy in mordant gilded leaf. It can be gilded with either an acrylic emulsion water-based adhesive such as The Sepp Leaf Workshop or Dux brands or oil gilded with quick or slow dry oil size.
Kolcaustico can also be tinted by 10% with Mixol, a universal tint which provides a color under the leaf and eliminates the need to paint a topcoat over the raised plaster before gilding. An undercoat of color is often used when gilding as it affects the overall tonality of leaf, especially the thin genuine gold leaf.
One word of caution is that Kolcaustico is intended for use on a stable surface such as walls or panels. However, it bonds well to acrylic gesso thats been primed on canvas although small stress cracks in the plaster can appear due to the flexibility of the canvas. This affect could be considered bothersome or attractive depending on the artist’s intention although I have found that Kolcaustico remains stable on canvas while these small stress cracks tend to blend into the background once gilded. Regardless, it’s always a good idea to test any new material that you haven’t tried before on a sample surface first before moving forward with a project.
Gilding Class Registration
Find out more about the gilding class program on the Gilding Class Information page. To sign up now for an Online or In-Person class please visit the Book a Class page. You’ll be contacted within 24 hours with an official confirmation of your Registration. See you in Class!