I’ve recently hit a sort of “artists block” over the summer, actually just a “human block” in general. I have reached the part of summer where I have run out of tasks that interest me. So the other night, while looking at DIY projects on Pinterest for inspiration, I saw some abstract paintings made with gold leaf and I thought I have paint… I have gold leaf… why not! 

I had used some gold leaf before but it was difficult and I didn’t look up how to do it. So this time I did a little research before I applied the gold leaf to the painted canvas. I found out that there are two different types of gold leaf to paint with: real gold leaf and imitation gold leaf, and considering I bought mine off amazon for my senior prom I didn’t think I had either. So I improvised. You’re also supposed to use glue or adhesive of some sort too but all the glue in my house is stolen by those same imp-creatures that take your socks.

Acrylic paint and gold leaf on campus

No glue, but whatever! Although I didn’t know what I was doing again I put the gold leaf on the painting and then sprayed it with fixative thinking that would hold it. So far so good. Pretty simple enough but I would like to learn more about it and even practice some more. My little canvas has the gold leaf applied on top, it would be cool to incorporate the gold leaf into the painting more.

I also learned from this little experience that I would need to get more materials and supplies that hadn’t heard of before. The money-disappearing life of an artist!

Featured Image from Unsplash