Samara Art Gallery 

Shital Patel is a graduate in B.F.A from the prestigious C.N. college of fine arts, Ahmedabad, India. Her paintings are made mainly using handmade paints and real gold leaf; though, she does do work with other mediums like oils, pencils, etc. once in a while. The paints used are handmade by the artist and there is an extensive use of real gold leaf.

​

The gold leaf which has been used in her paintings, has been hammered into extremely thin sheets by gold beating. Gold leaf is available in a wide variety of karats and shades. The most commonly used gold is 22-karat yellow gold leaf. Real gold leaf is around 91.6% pure gold. Layering gold leaf over a surface is called gold leafing or gilding. It brings about a quality of brilliance to the colours and the painting itself. The paintings presented here employ both the factors.

 

Patel also is a strong advocate for handmade paints and has used them in many of her paintings. Her beliefs on commercial paints are that they have lots of fillers and chemicals as additives and preservatives. Making your own paint means you are able to control precisely what goes into the paint and thereby the purity of the paint. Your paint could be 100% pure if you choose it to be. A better paint changes the nature of a painting.