Egg Tempera V

Today's discussions involved tiled floors and perspective design. It's an interesting subject that I'll explore later. Later in the day Koo discussed protective coatings for tempera paintings--varnish, shellac, and wax--and demonstrated the application of shellac.

I got in some painting today. Not as much as previous days but I was feeling rather tired. I figured it best to go slow so as not to go backwards.

And here it is! My project for the week. Although a simple composition, there's a lot going on. Stone work. Turning form on the egg. Radially gradated background. Light and shadow on cloth. There are many mistakes in this piece which made for a lot of discovery. I estimate 20 hours work here.

It's been an incredible two weeks of art workshops, my first in person instruction. I am glowing with a warm satisfaction of fun and learning.

Egg Tempera IV

Apologies for the lack of images this week but tomorrow I will post my work. By the end of day yesterday, I was less than satisfied with where my painting was going. (I think that was reflected in yesterday's rather short-winded and less than enthusiastic post.) Today was a joy! Although I can still see plenty of problem areas, I made good progress with stone work and then worked more on the egg. Bless Koo for all her encouragements--both with what is accomplished as well as setting up next step expectations.

This morning's discussion delved into scumbling and glazing. These were presented in last week's workshop but this week we take them to action.

Scumbling with a very thin layer of titanium white helps to pull the value and chroma together while generally cooling the temperature. The "very" in very thin is important. What looks like almost no white at all can be most apparent when applied! Today I used a few scumbles on the egg and I'll probably do more tomorrow.

Glazing a very light layer of paint can affect value, chroma, and temperature. I used glazes of prussian blue, alizarin crimson, and burnt umber on the background. I used a glaze of yellow ochre on the egg. Also glazes of burnt umber and prussian blue on the stone. Green earth glazing was applied for half tones on the egg. Tomorrow, per Koo's advice, I will apply green earth glazing across the background and egg to unify, to help the egg to not jump out so much.

Next was a demonstration on lettering. Koo showed us a few techniques, from painted on, to scratched down lightly to a base color, to developing incised characters. Good planning and attention to detail are essential!

I'm working to build lost edging on the egg. That's most interesting and needs a good bit more attention.

I am discovering how much there is to learning to see form by being aware of value. Subtle (to me!) variances were coming into view after being pointed out by Koo and a fellow artist.

More tomorrow as my second week wraps up. Bittersweet, it will be.

Egg Tempera III

This morning Koo talked about portrait painting--pigments and mixes for flesh colors. Although I'm not painting a portrait, I still need to render form with my egg. Koo showed me how to apply light layers of green earth for coolness in the half tones.

Today I got in plenty of painting. I went through cycles of messing up and recovering the background. Later I stenciled in the egg and applied form. Before leaving, I dropped in a start on the stone.

Once again I forgot my notes! Got all kinds of carried away painting and didn't think to snap a photo.

This evening I'm reading Egg Tempera Painting, A Comprehensive Guide to Painting in Egg Tempera by Koo Schadler. It dovetails beautifully with this week's workshop. For anyone interested in egg tempera, it's a must have.

Egg Tempera II

Today's workshop session began with a discussion on transfer paper. Graphite can be quite messy. For a commercial solution, Saral works great. It comes in colors, really individual pigments with their own properties. It may be hard to see but in my painting I am using white Saral to stub in the egg in the middle. One can also make transfer paper by mixing dry pigment with denatured alcohol to a creamlike consistency and painting it on tracing paper.

Sorry about the image quality but I'm working from my Droid X. In my painting, I'm mixing chromium oxide green into three colors using burnt umber, cadmium orange, and yellow ochre. You can see those three mixes in action here, creating the radial gradation. I'm also glazing with alizarin crimson, prussian blue, burnt umber, and raw umber. There are even a few scumbling layers with titanium white. All my paint application has been with cosmetic sponges.

I'm polishing occasionally with cheesecloth. It adds a wonderful evenness and eggshell shine, a real glow with depth.

There was much discussion on proper medium (egg and water) and proper tempering (medium and dry pigment). After that came information on true gesso boards, which can nicely be described as a paint! Pigment (inert white substance, either gypsum or chalk), binder (animal water-based glue), and vehicle (water).

Later in the day came an awesome demonstration on faux finishes. First came stone-like finishes and then texturing, stenciling, pressed patterns, dragged 80 grit sandpaper, Saral imprints and transfers, you name it! The session ended with us imagining our own possibilities.

Monday morning I felt I'd already learned enough. Monday afternoon left me saying the same thing. Today, I am completely blown away! An incredible amount of wonderfully presented material. And in between all this, there were 11 of us painting away with Koo repeatably coming around to offer individual coaching, advice, and pats on the back.

Egg Tempera I

We are already painting! Ya, really! Selecting an image to paint, reviewing it individually with Koo, mixing pigments, and applying paint to gesso board. Done! Maybe that's how I got so excited that I forgot to bring home my notes. No worries though, as I can wing it.

A good part of the day's start covered material similar to that presented the previous week, particularly the characteristics of individual paints. We did go more into detail regarding the handling properties, particularly transparency versus opacity. Some pigments are quite simply bold as brass, others meek and shy--important to remember when mixing.

Koo demonstrated how to handle the egg, mix it with pigment, and apply to the gesso board. She showed how to pick up paint with a cosmetic sponge and apply using dabbing motions. Then came glazing layers using alizarin crimson as well as viridian, both transparent pigments. Lastly, she scumbled on titanium white.

I have picked a rather simple model for my painting, an egg on a piece of cloth on a piece of stone. There will be a radially gradated background around the egg. Although not complex, this model will embody a good many practices--gradated background using mixed pigments and glazing, faux finish stone work, repeated masking, and form detailing (on the egg).

There are to be many more demos and a good deal of painting. Along with forgetting my notes, I just now realize that I have nothing to scan. My gesso board, along with all my supplies, are left behind in the store. (This week we are working out of the Collins Art Center, not the restaurant.) So what I will do is take occasional pictures of my gesso board for a work in progress.

After the morning session, I felt that I had already picked up a couple of gems:

• Seeing the art of proper tempering was illuminating. I've been lax in adequately mixing the egg with the pigment. 

• Sponges are used to dab on paint, not spread it. Somehow that practice had eluded me!

If some of this sounds vague, I hope it clears up later this week. Additionally, I can envision expanding on egg tempera long after the workshop completes. More tomorrow!