Ancient painting technique: imitation malachite

This masterclass will introduce you to the craft of ‘ancient painting techniques’. This craft consists of imitating wood and marble, tortoiseshell and precious stones. And typesetting (painting), gilding and bronzing.

During this masterclass, we will imitate malachite. Malachite is a mineral used as a gemstone. The imitation of this stone is built up in several layers.

We start by studying the stone. How is it shaped? We make sketches with pencil on paper. It is helpful if you look for examples in advance and print them out. Then you will already have something on your mind. Then we start the imitation. We will apply the drawing to a piece of prepared paper to do this. Corinna will demonstrate how to do this and show you what you need. We will do this in oil. We will do some more ‘work’ in the drawing if necessary. The finish, the protection, can only be applied when the work is dry. Corinna will do that later. The work can be taken away ‘wet’ or collected after a week at Atelier Wildschut in the NDSM Loods.

Corinna Wildschut has taught this beautiful craft for 30 years at the vocational school Nimeto in Utrecht and her own Atelier Wildschut in the NDSM Loods. She was brought up on the subject by her mother, also an imitation painter. Besides teaching, she frequently practices this art, with varying assignments. Besides painting decorations, she makes wall and ceiling paintings. She also restores stucco ceilings, ornaments, mirror frames, and other antique objects.

Old painting technique: imitation burr walnut

First, we will study the root wood to be imitated. What does it look like? How does the structure run? If you sign up for this masterclass, you can prepare by looking up root wood examples. If necessary, print them out and take them with you. We start with sketches on paper. Then we start with the imitation on grounded paper. Imitations are made up of different layers. We start with the first layer: the drawing, the veins, and the roots. Corinna will demonstrate how we will do that and what you need for that. Kassel soil, milk powder, beer and water…

The second layer is to apply the colour. We will do this with an oil sauce and pigments ground in oil. Linseed oil, white spirit and siccative. The third layer is the protective layer. We can’t apply that one because the work won’t be dry yet. Corinna will do that at a later stage. You will be given a detailed description.