Fabienne Lecras

Since the age of fourteen, I have taken drawing lessons in various workshops, then I followed an apprenticeship in gilding in the workshop (obtaining the CAP in gilding), and finally an apprenticeship in painting restoration.

I have always painted on easels, first still lifes in watercolor and tempera, on wood. Then I began to combine all the techniques on the same painting, on the theme of fabric and clothing, drawing inspiration from Chinese or European lacquers that I had to restore. It is a mix of gilding, lacquer and traditional painting techniques, on wood panels coated with rabbit skin glue and Meudon white. The backgrounds are painted with a mixture of rabbit skin glue and pigments, sometimes embellished with repair iron designs, sometimes gold or silver leaf, with parts that can be burnished with agathe. They are waxed with a "house" wax which gives them a matt appearance. The fabrics are sometimes painted with glue but they are most often gold or silver leaf. Their relief is accentuated by thicknesses of plaster. Glazes (colored varnishes) are placed on top. Laces are often represented by reparure. Faces and bodies are always painted with watercolors and varnishes. Egglomerated glasses can be inserted there.