Illuminated Manuscript

Paris and Michael, by Jane Rainwater ©2006. 22K gold leaf, gouache, vellum.
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This is the start of a series I am working on called "Icons of the 21st Century. This is tradtional illuminated manuscript painting that I learned at Castle Hill Art Center in Truro, MA from Patricia Miranda. This is actual animal skin (vellum) and I made all of my own gouache from pigment and oak gall ink. Illuminated manuscript painting is an amazing and spiritual process. To gild, you apply a gesso mixture to the vellum and you literally take deep wet breaths and blow on the painting surface to activate the gesso for gold adhesion. This is not dutch metal or any of that fake stuff!