Oil Paintings on Gold Leaf for Sale by Nicola Currie

My paintings on gold leaf receive more comments and questions than any of my other work at every art exhibition and art fair. These paintings have become a particular focus for me this year as I develop new ways of working with this beautiful surface.

I began painting on gold leaf in 2016. Some of the oil paintings here are executed on imitation gold leaf, also known as Schlag gold, faux gold and Dutch Gold. Other paintings on gold are on 23 carat gold leaf. The process for the preparation of the boards is the same. It involves layering a gesso board (Ampersand museum quality) with a colour, adding a size (glue) Japanese size or acrylic size then layering on the gold leaf sheet by sheet. The gold is then protected with a shellac or leaf protection solution. The composition for the painting is then drawn on and within that drawing there is painted a clear acrylic layer as the oil would just slide around over the gold otherwise. Once the completed painting is dry I add a dammar varnish. The painting is then professionally framed and catalogued so that I have a record of exactly which leaf and which colours were used – should a collector want to group several paintings. The process of creating a painting on gold is time-consuming, deeply absorbing and a pleasure. The gold background provides a beautiful back lighting for any painting and can make the ordinary extraordinary.

It is also quite humbling to recognise that I am working with a tradition that goes back thousands of years to the Pharoahs. This precious metal can be hammered into wafer thin sheets which has enabled artists to work with it in so many art genres including religious art, illuminated manuscripts, paintings, graphic work, sculpture and ceramics. Here in my studio food, flowers and animals have all had the gold leaf treatment.