Why I Love Using Gold in My Art | Anne Geldermann Art

I used to hate gold. To me, it felt old-fashioned, and honestly, I couldn’t understand why anyone would want gold things in their home.

Somewhere along the way, that completely changed. I can’t even tell you exactly when it happened, but for the past few years, I’ve absolutely loved gold. And now you’ll find it not only around my home, but in many of my paintings too.

What I Love About Gold

There’s just something special about gold. I love what it adds to a painting, but what fascinates me most is the way it changes with the light.

Depending on where the light comes from or where a painting is hanging, the gold can suddenly catch the light and glow. Move a little, and it becomes much more subtle again. It means the painting can look different throughout the day and from different angles.

I especially love this effect in my more colorful work. Gold isn’t simply another color in the painting. It changes with its surroundings, and that makes it so much more interesting to me.

From Gold Acrylic Paint to Gold Leaf

When I first started using gold in my work, I mainly used gold acrylic paint. These days, I much prefer working with imitation gold leaf or real gold leaf.

Metallic paint can be beautiful, but a metallic surface catches and reflects the light in a completely different way. That glow is exactly what I love about it.

And it doesn’t always have to be gold. I also love using copper. Metallic tones in general are exciting to work with because their appearance changes so much depending on how the light hits the surface.

And I’m Not Done Experimenting Yet

I already have a few new ideas I want to try.

Next, I’d love to combine gold with more texture. I want to experiment with mixing gold paint into texture paste, or creating raised areas first and then adding gold leaf on top.

I have no idea exactly how it will turn out yet. But that’s part of the fun.

When I think about how much I used to dislike gold, it makes me laugh a little. Now, I can hardly imagine my art without that glow.