Let's talk about gold!
Gold is a difficult colour to get right.
And because I love using it as detail on my artworks, I realised I had a lot of different kind of gold paints in my studio, so in this blog post I'm going to show you the difference so you don't have to waste your time and money to get the perfect one for your artwork.
This post contains affiliate links, however it isn't sponsored by any of the brands I tested throughout the years, and it's based on personal preference.
Let's go!
Here's a picture of all the gold paint I've tried.
From gold leaf, to ready made acrylic paints, to watercolour gold and my big time favourite: gold powder + bronze medium.
It's a mix of different mediums, but they can all be used for acrylic work.
And here's how they shine in the light
Now, let's go into details...
1. Gold Leaf
This is as gold as you can get. I love the colour, and I love the reflection. It’s great used super flat or a bit more messy when you see the paper wrinkles, depending on what you are doing.
Pebeo Gold Leaf is great and affordable.
The only reason I stopped using it, is that the application is a bit messy with the gilding paste and I felt I was wasting too much of it.
However, if you are looking for gold, this is it baby!
Gold Leaf: PEBEO Pbo-Deco Gold Booklet of 12 Leaves
Gilding Paste: Pébéo Water Preparation for Gluing Gold Leaves and Flakes, Paste, White, 75 ml
2. Iridescent Gold
Now, I mentioned Pebeo in the first point and I have to say that from their Iridescent line I’m madly in love with some colours but I hate some others. And unfortunately this gold falls into the second category.
It’s just a personal opinion, but I find this gold too yellow from the front. However it looks good in the light.
Pebeo Studio Acrylic Paint, Iridescent Gold
3. The World’s Goldest Gold (actual name!)
This is the last gold I got and haven’t used much of it yet, however because it’s called The World’s Goldest Gold, I had to try it.
To be completely honest the main reason I got this gold is because I’m a big supported of Stuart Semple’s work and his dedication to create the purest colours.
This gold is part of the Heavy Metal Pack and looks really good, it’s quite dense and the result is pretty good.
I have to say this was hard to photograph, it's actually less bronzy looking than in the picture, however probably it looks better on 3D objects and sculptures rather than a flat canvas. Otherwise, if you have some money to spend (a bit pricey - but for a good cause) and want to support the Culture Hustle peeps, this is a very valid option!
THE WORLD'S GOLDEST GOLD - metallic acrylic paint by Stuart Semple 30ml
4. Interference Gold
Now, I know that this gold looks grey in the first picture, but it’s only because it’s directly on paper.
Here’s an example on how it looks on a coloured background from my artwork on deep edge canvas.
I’m deeply in love with this colour, because it create a wow effect based on how the light falls on the artwork.
Also, if you add few drops to a white acrylic colour, then the white paint becomes more shiny, way more subtle than glitter!
Golden Fluid Acrylic Paint Interference Gold Fine
5. Fine Iridescent
This Fine Iridescent is great for those sections of your artwork where you want to see a gold effect but not too strong. Highly recommended when in a gradient you can see it fading into other colours as well!
Golden Acrylic Paint Fluid Gold Fine Iridescent
6. Watercolour Gold
I just started again using watercolours, and this is quite good.
You can add this one as well to white acrylic colour to get a shiny effect, just don’t add too much otherwise it looks just dirty white.
(if you are looking for a Gold Ink, for line work, I suggest this one by Winsor & Newton)
7. This is my go to choice: Gold Powder + Bronze Medium
First of all, I love the fact that I can control the density fo the gold based on what I’m doing. Also, the powder is available in 3 different shades, and the medium as well, so if you want something lighter or darker, you can definitively find it!
The bronze medium is oily, so it won’t work on watercolour paper, or in general too delicate paper but it works perfectly fine on already painted acrylic paper or canvas.
If you use this gold, dedicate a brush to it, because the brush gets difficult to clean.
I also dedicated a jar to the already mixed powder + medium, so I don’t have to create the colour all the time, and I don’t waste what I don’t need while I’m painting.
The bast way to protect the colour when is dry is to use a varnish. I use a Matt Acrylic Varnish by Winsor & Newton
Pale Gold Bronze Gold Powder
Bronze Medium
8. Galeria Acrylic Gold
The last one… this is a big no for me.
Sorry Winsor & Newton, I love all your acrylic colours but metals aren’t your forte in my opinion.
To me this looks like bronze/copper. I actually used this colour to blend in into a dark red and it looked pretty cool, however I wouldn't consider this gold...
Winsor & Newton Galeria Acrylic Gold Serie 2
So this is it, these are all the different kinds of gold I have tested so far and my super honest opinion on all of them.
I hope you found this helpful and are ready to go make everything gold! :)
