Vintage Gold Project by Sarah Donawerth

When the art postcards by Ingrid Pomeroy arrived at our offices, I was surprised to recognize one of the women pictured in the set of postcards. It was Virginia Oldoini, Countess of Castiglione, a patroness of early photography and, notoriously, mistress of Emperor Napoleon III of France. I had written about her in a college paper, so I immediately wanted to use the postcard of her staring hypnotically through a frame. To incorporate plenty of vintage glam, I used Natalie Kalbach’s Art Deco Wallpaper Stencil and a gold leafing technique.

Vintage Gold Project Directions

Mix blue and black paint to create a blue/grey color. Paint your canvas.

Darken a portion of your mixed paint with more paint and lighten some with more blue, then use this to add visible paint streaks on your canvas. Continue blending or smudging the paint until satisfied with the result. Let canvas dry.

Apply texture paste through Art Deco Wallpaper stencil to the top of your canvas using a palette knife.

While texture paste is still wet, lay a sheet of gold leaf overtop and pat lightly in place with fingers. Note: too much pressure could tear the gold leaf or smoosh the stenciled image. Light pressure is enough to adhere the gold leaf.

When texture paste has completely dried, use a paintbrush to remove the gold leaf from in between the stenciled image. These bits of gold are great for adding detail to other projects.

Cut out images from the postcards by Ingrid Pomeroy. Glue the images to the bottom of the canvas with gel medium and brush gel medium over the entire canvas.

Repeat the gold leafing process to add a few scallops to the bottom of the canvas over the postcard image. Brush some gel medium over the new scallops.

To blend the different elements of the canvas, brush some walnut stain over the entire canvas, allowing it to accumulate in the crevices of the stenciled design.

If the ink is too dark, blend with a wet paper towel or baby wipe.

With the gold gelatos stick, scribble some color on top of the postcard image, then blend out with a makeup sponge to create a halo around the image. It can also be further blended with a wet paper towel.

You will also ? these publications: