Baumann first used metal leaf in 1928 for his color woodcut "Singing Woods" for which he employed gold, aluminum, or metal leaf as a sky color. In 1930, he produced three color woodcuts using aluminum leaf as a "color," these being "Processional," "April," "Tulips." In all, he created thirteen color woodcuts for which he used leaf.
This impression of "Silver Sky" was printed in the fall of 1935. A note as to the exact location has not been discovered in the Baumann archive but he exquisitely captured the luminosity of a rainy day in the American Southwest.
To print the leaf Baumann would print a block with mastic rather than color. As the mastic (a varnish) dried he would hand apply the leaf.