Pingback by the space above the couch » Illustration Friday: Wisdom

September 30, 2005 @ 2:56 pm

[…] en the painting is complete, I’ll update this post with the final version. Update : the final version.

12 Comments
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Comment by kivajo

October 2, 2005 @ 5:01 pm

well I’m taken back by your style cause, I’d like to be able to paint that way.

they look like photos (some of them). thanks for posting for me to see.

Comment by Elaine Bond

October 5, 2005 @ 8:07 pm

Hi, I’m a french egg tempera painter but I’m very far from your skill!I realy like the way you’re doing it!
I’v read a lot about the old recipies and I’d like to

try egg tempera with oil, is it your technique?
(Please,sorry for my english)

Comment by jpohl

October 8, 2005 @ 5:02 pm

Elaine, your English is certainly better than my French. Your work is interesting, and I appreciate how you are pushing yourself with experimentation.

I put my work in oil on hold the day I found out I was pregnant with our baby son Conor. I am still only beginning to find my way in egg tempera, and am experimenting with a variety of techniques. This small study was painted on a gesso ground that was stained with tea, and I worked the underpainting with gesso and india ink before layering the egg tempera. I would like to try the more traditional silver point as an underdrawing soon.

I have read that it is possible to work tempera over or under oil paint, and look forward to experimenting with that in the future as I gain more experience with the medium. It’s exciting for me to think that I will be able to finish several of my oil panels and canvases that are so close to completion. Will it be the best of both worlds? I can’t say till I’ve tried it.

I intend to start working with dry pigments soon. I have only just begun to get a feel for the brushwork, using Sennelier egg tempera in my preliminary studies. With a baby in the house it seemed to be the safest place to begin.

The manufacturer claims that it is made with a traditional formula, but many experts believe that premixed paints are likely to be egg-oil emulsion and not the true tempera.

I have also noticed that there is a problem in scanning an egg tempera painting on our flatbed scanner. Much of the luminosity and glow which is unique to egg tempera under light is lost on the scanner. Later on, I’ll be able to invest in better copy work by a good photographer before I show many of the egg tempera works online.

I am not sure if there is a French translation of Daniel V. Thompson’s book The Practice of Egg Tempera (1936), but I highly recommend it.

Comment by Manuela

October 11, 2005 @ 1:20 pm

I like this a lot
But I like a lot the Header of your BloG

Comment by Nic5

August 21, 2007 @ 11:15 pm

HI
WOW! Like you were back in 2005, I am currently pregnant with my first child and having to put oils on hold. I have been working in oils for years and find anything else very frustrating. However finding your site, your work and also the work of Koo Schandler - has inspired to keep perservering.
But I am having trouble with the Sennelier tempera finding that the paint underneath periodically comes off! I thought the Sennelier tube paint could be thinned with water, however on 2nd and subsequent coats this lifted the paint. So I tried JUST using the Sennelier medium with the paint and this sort of worked - very slow, tacky, hard to get flow and in some instances lifted the paint as well!
Although I see you have returned to using oils, can you please please tell me how you applied the tempera paint- what did you use to thin/glaze, how long drying time between coats, what was the largest size you could work with in tempera…? I’m really desparate as I miss oils so much. thank you for your inspiration! will try and find that book by Daniel Thompson.
Nic