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I have always believed that one of the most necessary things for an artist to do is to surprise themselves.  It may sound funny to say so, but I am a big believer in this sort of thing.  Another way I have expressed it is that I've preached that it is necessary to always keep a portion of your work experimental.  Because all of the things that are now considered the staples of a style, or a particular kind of work - they were once experiments.  Sometimes the experiment is the subject.  And sometimes the experiment is the medium..

In May of 2024, I did my first small Saguaro painting in gold leaf.  The modern world being what it is, I taught myself this medium using Youtube videos.  Somewhere between watching the very helpful videos of artist Nancy Reyner, and the tips sent to me by my friend the artist Alvin Gill-Tapia, I got the basic idea down.  And the day I posted my first gold leaf painting, yet another artist, Kevin Barton, wrote me immediately to say he had to have it.  Interestingly, when I sat at my printing table in my studio and stared at the first gold leaf painting, I knew I had something.  I didn't know what it was, but I had something.

Being a fan of irony, one of my next gold pieces was the Golden Eagle on gold painting that was recently snapped up by a Tucson collector.

Why this exploration of gold?  The most direct answer I can give is that it is a result of a longtime obsession that I have had with the famous Gustav Klimt painting, "Portrait of Adele-Bloch Bauer I."  If you are interested in the amazing story of this painting, I would highly recommend the book "Lady in Gold," by the author Anne Marie-O'Connor.  The unparalleled beauty and craftsmanship of this painting is one thing...Klimt took four years to complete it.  Yet the story of how the Nazis took the painting, and many other valuable items from the Jewish family of Adele Bloch-Bauer is extraordinary in its own right.  (It was forcibly taken off the wall at the Bloch-Bauer residence, and, after the war, ended up in the Belvedere museum in Vienna.  With NO restitution to the family.). The painting, which many called the "Mona Lisa of Austria," was disguised by the Nazis by referring to the painting as "Woman in Gold," or "Lady in Gold."  Thankfully, after an extended legal action, Adele's niece Maria Altmann finally succeeded in having the painting returned to her family.  Today, it resides at the Neue Galerie in New York City.

It took me many years to see the work of Klimt for the majesty it contained.  Suffice to say, now I do see it, and he had a great deal to do with my own experiments in gold!

                                                                      "Sunflowers & Lavender on Gold" 40 x 30, oil on gold leaf

Wishing you all the best, and thanks for being here,

Neil