Gold leaf icon

For my last art class (experimental techniques in acrylic), the ‘experimental technique’ was gold leaf. Which immediately makes me think of Byzantine religious icons. At first I was trying to think up ways to incorporate the gold leaf into a cityscape like ones I’ve been working on recently, but in the end I decided to just play around and see what came out. After all, I took this class in order to try new things, and while I have tried new materials, my subject matter has remained pretty standard most weeks.

The result was two paintings: one abstract black and red square of which I didn’t manage to get a good photo, and this icon painting. It came out looking much more religious than I intended. I do like some of the shapes I created in it, though. Not sure what I’m going to do with the painting now.

Overall I’m glad I took the art class. I had hoped for a class heavier on the critique and on the technique instruction, but I still managed to get something out of this class. At the very least it had me painting for three straight hours each week, usually finishing at least one if not two paintings in that time. Just imagine if I could impose such discipline on myself in my home studio… Also the teacher gave me some ideas for places in Munich I could contact about exhibiting my work, and a fellow student said she might know of a space, too. Good stuff.