Saturday, March 3, 2012

Violet Rose Egg Tempera


Here is another egg tempera painting, 5"x7" on Ampersand Claybord, finished just yesterday. I painted the initial layers in mars violet and titanium white. When used straight, mars violet is very opaque and dark, so I was able to get the shadow areas very dark very quickly without the streaks that transparent colors tend to give. These shadow areas were darkened further with Daniel Smith's bloodstone genuine (I mixed egg yolk into the tube watercolor). The bloodstone mixed with titanium white made a nice bluish gray with hints of cool red, which I used for lighter areas of the petals. I also made much use of pyrrol red and quinacridone rose on the petals. The leaves have bits of several colors - viridian, prussian blue, quinacridone gold among others.

2 comments:

  1. I love the amazing realism you achieved using egg tempura, as well as your patience and dedication on each of these beautiful pieces. Would like to learn this ancient medium -- could you recommend some study materials, i.e., books, websites, videos? Thanks in advance!

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  2. Hi Arena, thanks for visiting! I've been gaining information about egg tempera mostly from www.eggtempera.com, also from www.naturalpigments.com, and even a bit from www.wetcanvas.com. There is a good contemporary book, The Luminous Brush, by Altoon Sultan, that's available in print and also on Google Books. Also, Ralph Mayer's classic, The Artist's Handbook, has some good basic info on egg tempera, including variations on the basic paint recipe.

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