Gold leaf and lapis

I have just had to stock up on supplies so I paid a visit to the art shop Cornelissen, (which I have mentioned previously on this blog). I think the King Tutankhamun exhibition has had rather an impact on me and I have become more than preoccupied with gold. So amongst other things I bought real gold leaf, imitation gold leaf, gold paint and some oil paints so I can paint on top of the gold leaf! I haven't used gold leaf before, but will be sure to show my attempts on here once done.

Even the outfit I wore to go out and buy the gilding items was blue and gold, complete with my gold scarab ear-rings from the exhibition and Egyptian style shoes. Oh dear, it probably won't be long before I'm looking like one of these figures!

Tutankhamun

I finally got around to paying a visit to the King Tutankhamun exhibition, which is currently on at the O2 centre in Greenwich, London and it was amazing. Eleven galleries of the most beautiful, precious things was almost too much to take in and a little overwhelming. Most of these pictures are from the great book that accompanies the exhibition with photographs by Sandro Vannini. Above is a picture of the miniature version of the coffin.

I love the combination of lapis blue and gold, and the stylised way of doing feathers or blue lotus petals (as on this alabaster vase above).

Below is Tutankhamun's more informal crown.

I also like it when designers take inspiration from ancient Egypt, as Alexander McQueen did in last year's autumn/winter collection.

Fashion images courtesy of www.vogue.com

I have only done one Egyptian style painting (of which you can see a small detail below), but after this exhibition I will definitely do more! See www.tutankhamunexhibition.co.uk for more details. This exhibition is on until the 30th of August.