psta egg tempera class day 5

Today we start on oil, so we are finally adding colours! We also did the glair layer to separate the egg tempera and learnt to make oil paint from scratch ( well from the pigments..)

PROCESS
1. First we apply 3 coats of glair*( recipe from previous days) on top of the painting, and it became more glossy. Apply using a varnishing brush or a wide sable, remember not to over brush or it will come off, allow each layer to dry before applying the next, and then leave for at least an hour ( We left it for 3 hours while making oil paint) Note we added water to glair mix, otherwise it will be too strong and the egg tempera will crack.

2. Before applying the oil we used a resin(dammar, can be bought from shop) mixed with black, yellow orche, burnt sienna pigment to make it a warm colour (like a verdaccio without the white, and a bit more burnt sienna) and 25% poppy oil to thin it out and then use hog brush to paint over the painting. I have to say it was a bit worrying as the whole painting turned brown, but you wipe it off with the side of your hand and clean your hand with a cotton cloth ( NO tissue!!) after each wipe and it just adds a slight warmth to the painting and nothing else - Now it is ready for the oil paint.

3.As with tempera you paint the darkest colours first, for my background the tutor suggested a bit of yellow to the black to make a coldish background ( green black) to contrast with the warmth of the figure. The technique with the oil is not dissimilar with the tempera process - you build up layers bit by bit, and never apply one colour to one area, always mix and build with different very thin, subtle layers. The colours of the turban was varying blues, yellow, white, and dark blue. the shadow on the face was a building up of brown thin by fingers!

4. Note the dammar will be good for 6 hours and then it is needed again when I next get to paint the painting again, I shall update the progress on this web site in the next couple of weeks.


RECIPE - OIL PIGMENTS
- Note that the 3 basic oil to use are linseed, walnut and poppy seed oil.
Linseed
Most commonly used, fastest drying, but yellows more, the cold pressed variety maybe better, also if leave in the sun it can bleach out the yellowness more.
Walnut
popular with the 16th C Italian painters, dries slower, the supermarket variety is not right, needs to purified.
Poppy
This is Rembrandt 's favourite for grinding white as it is the least yellow oil, dries the slowest and the thinnest.
- Note thick oil makes thinner paint, thin oil makes the paint more buttery and less runny
- All pigments dry at different rates, lead based ones dry quickest, blues too. Also advantageous to use poppy for mixing these colours as it is the least yellow and won't turn blue into green, white into yellow etc
- Note titanium white and zinc white best with walnut oil
- All earth, black and synthetic colours are ok with linseeed as they don't get affected much by the yellow
- Note pigments all need different amount of oil, so add a bit at the time, grind a small amount ( walnut size) well and it should be shiny and not dull when using the palette knife to gather on the grinding surface. The texture should feel buttery.
Lead white will be runny with small amount of oil, raw sienna needs lots of oil.
- Less oil = less gloss
- Spread the pigment thinly and grind the paint really fine so all will mix well, better to over grind than under grind to mix the pigment and oil well to retain shine.
- If store with Aluminium foil and let out the air the oil paint should keep for several weeks, tube ones tend to have less oil.


RECIPE - EGG TEMPERA ON CANVAS
Notes to come!

OTHER TIPS
-Turpentine - if brush on paper and it doesn't yellow too much then it is good quality

psta egg tempera class day 4

Today we worked on building up the shadows and depth of our painting with egg tempera

PROCESS

1. As we have left the painting overnight we had to 'seal' the painting with 2 parts egg tempera and 1 part water first and let it dry before starting work again, note that the paint that was done yesterday could still be brushed off if too harsh so be quick and gentle with the painting.

2. The rest of the day is to vary the tones of the pigments we have, at one point I was using very little water on my pigment and the paint became too thick, this is not to be recommended! You also do not want to see brush strokes, egg tempera is about building up the tones subtly.

3. Remember to dilute the paint thinly with water and apply layers ( dry between each layer) to build it up and it really makes the shadows vary very subtly.

4. Also I wasn't creating enough contrast between the colours, you really have to look at the painting carefully to think about where the light is and emphasis it with the white. I varied the whiteness in the lighter area and it really showed. I learnt too that some minor details can make a big difference - for example the lights and shadows under her eyes made such a difference to her expression compare to yesterday.

RECIPE - TEMPERA GRASSO
This is a method used by Botticelli,
1 part egg yolk and 1 part oil to mix with the pigments

OTHER TIPS
- Egg tempera is generally good for still life and not landscape, as landscape has more variation, textures and more fluid

psta egg tempera class day 3

PROCESS

1. Today we build up the painting from the day before, now that my 3 layers of verdaccio middle tone has dried off I have to make 3 basic verdaccio and apply it to the painting over and over again on a thin layer, until we build up something substaintial.

2. We now mix the pigments into 3 tones, by varying the amount of white we add to each to create light, middle and dark tones.

3. Then we add 1 part egg tempera to each tone and some water to dilute each, before applying them very thinly ( dab your brush on some tissues) to create first the dark, then middle then light tones, creating at least 5, 6 fine layers before moving onto the next tone, and start over again to create depth.

4. Note that when creating the tones as you go along they can vary slightly as more varying depth in tone is required. I have attached a number of photos showing the progress in the depth through the day.

5. It is very nice to use a small number sable brush to paint the face and details and draw in the details rather than putting brush strikes as you really build up the details.


OTHER TIPS

- the formula to create a basic middle tone is
10% lead white
80% yellow orche
5 % each of black and burnt sienna
vary the light and dark by adding more white and less white and the ratio of the other three will stay the same.
- always use sable brush ( and make sure no hair will come off too easily)
- if paint stay lifting off then mix 2 part egg and vinegar with 1 part white and brush over to seal the parts
- use the same above if leaving the painting overnight to seal and protect it, or after a number of layers to seal the work
- before packing up add a drop of water to the egg and vinegar pigments to keep them from drying out to be used the next day, if it dries out then it is no good anymore.

psta egg tempera class day 2

PROCESS

1. Today we began the day by sanding down the panel (now a gesso panel) with 400 grain sand papers, the process is amazing, the panel feels so super smooth, it is like a baby's bottom!

2. Make sure the surface is all smooth and don't overdo it at the edge when the MDF is prone to show through if there is too much sanding, sand the side too.

3. Then take a piece of tracing paper, pencil and burnt sienna, copy the outline of the painting on the tracing paper, rub the burt sienna at its back, retrace it over the smooth gesso panel.

4. Next trace the outline with egg and vinegar mix to seal the lines.

5. When the lines are dry then seal the whole panel with 1 layer half strength RSG (see tips yesterday) and 2 layers of full strength, do it thinly and quickly and make sure the burnt sienna outline stays.

6. Once that is done then the panel is ready for underpainting. ( see underpainting theory notes later)

7. Picking up from point 6 we now need to prepare the pigment for verdaccio middle tone; to do that we need to get the following 4 pigments done, in the following ratio and thus vary the amount of pigment to be grind.

10 % Lead white
5 % burnt sienna
5 % black
80 % yellow ochre

use a granite or glass ( smooth will be fine) for grinding by glass muller

mix water with each pigment with a palette knife, then spread out and grind with glass muller until smooth then put it aside to be mix as a middle tone verdaccio, note with lead white it is toxic so handle with care( don't inhale or touch, and wash hand after preparations) also it will need to be mixed with vokda as water separates it more.

8. Once the pigment for a middle tone is created, then add equal amount of egg tempera to it and apply it thinly and rapidly in vertical strokes over the painting, thin this with some water to make the thin layers rather translucent, and avoid streaks if possible. Wait for the first layer to dry before doing the next layer, and leave to dry.

UNDERPAINTING(Theory)

- The whole purpose of underpainting is to create a monochromatic tonal composition of the painting with light and shade to give it more depth and luminosity, t will appear flat but critical to provide a base.
- it will need several layers to build up to give it depth, once finished it could come into a painting of its won at times
- Usually a warm colour composition (like a portrait) will needs a cool colour underpaint and vice versa
- tonal variation has to be the same, to intensity the lightness or darkness.
- Verdaccio ( ugly green, a bit like a MDF board colour) is a neutral tonal colour to use if in doubt about which one to use.
- usually give it a middle tone base then start with dark tone, so it will be easier to control the tonal variation
- colours like black will need some white so it won't be too harsh or flat.


OTHER TIPS

3 types of white
- Lead white - versatile, traditional white for al the artists until early 19th century, very stable, dry well with oil, can be thin or heavy but toxic.
- Titanium white - very opaque, bright and bleach other colours
- Zinc white - very tranlucent

PSTA Egg Tempera Class Day 1

So I took up the Egg tempera course as I have longed admire the oil paintings by the old masters and I really wanted to know the technique for creating the magical luminosity in some of those master paintings.

Once again the course was taught at the Princes School of Traditional Arts, a wonderful place that teaches a lot of different traditional arts and I thoroughly recommend it.

This is a 5 full days course and we were kept rather busy. There are a number of steps and a lot of recipes to remember so I am writing them down and I hope you can benefit too. I have divided the sections under these headings.

Day 1 is all about preparation of the panel itself for painting.

PROCESS - showing what I have done on the day step by step
OTHER TIPS - for various notes and tips
RECIPES - for various recipes of mixtures

PROCESS

1. We got given a 15mm thick MDF panel and the first thing was to sand it down with a 400 grain sand panel until smooth

2. We then added 1 layer of 1/2 strength Rabbit Skin Glue RSG*(see recipe) , let it dry then added 2 layers of full strength, let each layer dry off before applying the next. Apply in thin layer, with a broad, flat brush.

3. We added 10 layers ( 8 absolutely minimum) of Gesso*(see recipe) to the panel when it was completely dry. We had to make sure each layer was completely dry before applying the next - we applied in perpendicular sequence ( one vertical, the next horizontal) using varnishing flat brush.

4. We waited at least 12 hours/ overnight before sanding it the next day. - see tomorrow's process for continuation.


RECIPE - Rabbit Skin Glue - Full strength 
RSG is used as a base for all Gesso panels and canvas, papers etc, it seals the surface so the medium does not sink into the panel. It is much better than the acrylic one which will crack in time.
a. The ratio is 1 part RSG granules to 18 parts water
b. First add 1 part RSG to 6 parts of water, NO STIRRING, let it sit and thicken for 10 to 15 minutes on its own
c. add the rest of the water, keep it warm and stir, allow for 20 minutes for it to completely dissolve
- This can keep for a week in the fridge
- do not overheat during the process or it will weaken the glue

RECIPE - Gesso
This is basically chalk, £3 for 3 kg from art shops.
a. It is 1 part RSG to 2 parts whiting ( powder) with water to help dissolve the medium
b. measure out the volume of the powder when it is dry and note the RSG will be half of this
c. add some cold water slowly and stir until the whiting completely dissolve like a creamy yogurt ( when you find it in a delicious texture and want to spoon it in your mouth, then it is ready)
d. Gradually add in the RSG and stir well and then it is ready to be used
e. Note i the beginning this may seem runny but it will thicken
f. pass the mixture through muslin if really need to ( too lumpy etc)
This can be keep in the fridge for 3 to 4 days, the next day even creamier!


RECIPE - EGG TEMPERA
This will be sufficient for a 1m x 1m painting, it is stable, flat in appearance and does not dis colour over time. It is used with pigment to create paint for the underpainting, where shadows are created.
a. It is 1 part egg to 2 parts white, normal vinegar, ( 1 to 6 will be too Matt, 1 to 1 too shiny)
b. crack an egg, get rid of the egg white ( save for Glair, see separate recipe) roll the egg on the hand and wipe the other until the egg yolk becomes tacky, then hold it gently and pinch it to let the egg yolk drop in a jar.
c. add in 2 parts vinegar and stir well - this is the egg tempera
- This can be kept for 2 to 3 months in the fridge.
- vinegar make the egg tougher and less likely to be lifted by painting over
- to be used as 1 part to 1 part with pigment to create paint ( thin by water in the underpainting process)



RECIPE - Glair
This is to be used between the egg tempera layer BEFORE applying oil paint to seal off the egg tempera layer
a. beat 1 egg white for 15 minutes until white and stiff and when turn upside down it doesn't fall
b. pour in 1 ounce of water, DO NOT STIR
c. leave overnight in a cool place
d. pour the liquid in a clean jar the next day
e. add 1/3 of water to its 1 part portion, and apply 3 layers to the egg tempera
f. Leave at least 45minutes before applying the oil paint
- this will make the painting look like it has a glass sheen on top
- this will cover a 1m x 1m surface

PSTA Miniature Painting Class day 4

The Final Finished painting

Picture 1

The last class was about adding more details, and building subtle skin tones, outlines of the face, shadows, and adding some gold ash over the veil and it works like magic. It is a very delicate use of the squirrel brush to create the shade and shadows and I had some help from our teacher Sam. We started the class drawing circles before applying the brush to the surface and it is slow and meditative work. The finished painting took quite some time. In fact I have cheated a bit and went back to the class a few years later to finish it off with Sam's guidance. What you see as a finished piece of work is something that took me a few more evenings to finish.

Overall I really enjoyed the class and had much more to learn. I will definitely be taking the class again and I thoroughly recommend it. ( and I have since)