Another Way to add a Touch of Gold to Your Pastels

'Among the Fields of Gold'             5x7        pastel with gold pigment      ©Karen Margulis
sold

I made a fun discovery today. I wanted to use up some paper that I had prepared and stored. Long forgotten was this piece of Uart that I covered with a wash of Schminke TriCol Metallic Powder.  I was  trying to get a feeling of gold leaf in my paintings. I wasn't very successful. So I stashed away the paper I had prepared.

a peice of Uart with a gold wash

Today I decided to use up the paper so I took out a 5x7 piece and chose a photo of a sunflower field. I painted as usual with my Terry Ludwig pastels.  I did like how the sparkle of the gold  peeked through the pastel. But I wanted more sparkle!

So....Here I go again....What if I added some more of the powdered gold to the painting. But how to get it to stick?  The directions on the bottle say to mix with water or paint. So I mixed up a puddle of gold paint and applied it to the painting with a fine paint brush. Oh what fun this was!  I can only imagine the possibilities for adding gold on top of the pastel!

Mixing the gold powder with a little bit of water

 I got my gold powder at Jerrys Artarama. Here is some information and a link.

Schminke Tri-Col Metallic Powders
These metallic powders are made with dry dextrine-glue binder. To obtain highly brilliant shiny watercolors just add water. The brilliance of these colors is unparalleled by any other product. Use with any water-based paint to achieve metallic effects.

close up detail of the gold paint