Célestine Leblanc Raised in Vienna, Célestine’s childhood was split between Secessionist galleries and her father’s gold-leaf workshop. She transformed traditional gilding techniques into oil painting, using impasto to mimic metallic textures that create subtle light-shifting effects. Her current Memory Portraits project paints portraits for the dying, translating their life stories into patterns (e.g., a grandmother’s lace collar becomes a painted motif).