Delightfully information. Thank you. The composition is captivating, almost haunting and the piece masterfully done. In solemn silence, a graveyard of fallen stone houses like sentinels high above the sea still stand, and nothing stirs, even the sea below offers neither a crest nor wave.
My grandmother is from Fitchburg, Massachusetts. She moved to New Brunswick after marrying my grandfather. There's a lot of Irish people in the north east. Beautiful painting and great video.
A small tip from the icon painters, who use egg tempera, - mix the powder and egg in porcelain palette with quite a dip in the centre - this keeps the mixed paint from drying out too quickly. Some Russians use escargot dishes as the porcelain palettes are hard to find now. Another tip - if you put a drop of vodka or gin in your egg yolk mix, you can keep it for up to a week in the fridge.
@100samanthamarievinegar helps preserve the egg yolk medium for a few days while it still in liquid form. I put clingfilm on my small glass and keep it in the refrigerator.
This is the painting I have always dreamed of. Your style is telling a tale, teaching, and painting, all at the same time, lyrically, calmly weaving, with the grass, a haunting story. Thank you. I am enchanted. Enthralled.
Raven, that's very kind of you. We learn all the time from one another, and there are many styles in egg tempera, as in other media. I've just been teaching an egg tempera workshop and I learnt new things from my students.
Thank you for a genuinely fascinating presentation, complete with historical notes of not just the medium and technique, but of the population of the subject matter. Your skills are inspiring.
You paint incredibly fast. You are so humble about your process. Thanks for the video and the seeing of your process. You are very skilled and amazingly fast.
I have just discovered you… and I love it!! It was like attending a super wonderful painting class!! Thank you very much!!! Did I say I loved it?? Greetings from Mexico!
Thank you so much for showing this technique. I am new to the technique as my background is in oils and watercolor. For 7 years my studio was next to an egg tempera painter and now I have moved to another continent and want to try this medium. I had a general idea but your explanation is excellent. Your talent and knowledge are remarkable and your work is exquisite.
Thank you for that lovely response. I hope you enjoy the new medium. There’s one thing in the video that should be slightly different: the ratio of glue granules to water should always be 1:16 at both stages (ie 1 tbsp glue flakes to 1 cup of water, or 15 ml to 250 ml). Then when making the gesso the ratio is 1:1.5 or one cup of warm glue solution to which one and a half cups of the chalk powder / whiting is slowly added.
Thank you for lessoning me on tempera painting. Thinking of applying tempera to my painting, you helped me a lot to get over doubts and fears to start. Blessings!
Thank you for this , I found it after googling egg tempera after seeing your paintings , so was a big surprise. So well done, and is appreciated . You'll have us all at it .
Vincent Brown I’m delighted this was helpful. I am always surprised that this modest presentation on a relatively obscure subject received so many responses. Thank you for your kind comments, Vincent.
Hello Fergus, this presentation was immensely fascinating. Painting in egg tempera looks like it is a craft as much as it is an art. Well done, I really enjoyed watching this and I love the resulting painting. Thank you so much for sharing this with us!
I just found this video, I am in awe. I found you by doing a search on egg tempera paints (thanks to Rae Dizzle art history); as I wasn't aware of egg as a binder. I knew honey was, though egg was new to me, so I searched and came across your video. Thank you so much for sharing your information, your skills, and your love of painting. Your piece is extraordinary!! 5 years later, and your video has certainly made an impact. :) Thank you!!!
Honestly, I am quite astonished by the response to this modest presentation. It seemed so basic and on such a niche subject and yet it has now almost 100,000 views. You might like to visit my website to see other newer works in egg tempera (and in oils) www.FergusARyan.com
Thank you for your kind comments. Perhaps sometime I may do an updated improved version. This was really just slides, but I’m astonished at how many people have found it helpful. Your own pencil drawings are astonishing.
If only all videos were of this quality. This is a medium I must try, after oils and gouaches/+watercolors. You are a true master, it is a pleasure to be let into Your creative process. Thank You.
Thank you Mr. Ryan, your explanation of the natural gesso and egg tempera process was very clear and helpful...and more importantly, encouraging...your painting is also beautiful! Thank you
Lovely, informative video. A pleasure to listen to and watch. Both the artwork and the video show great respect for the material and the art making process.
A marvelous video! I have worked in egg tempera in the past and used your informative video as a refresher course. Your calm, clear, thoughtful teaching style and your beautiful painting surpasses that of my college art professors. Thank you.
saldressage thank you for your kind comments. I’m glad this was helpful. I tried to include every practical element necessary to complete a tempera painting. Often ‘how to’ videos miss out the very thing I need to know on some detail. Here I might for example have said a little more about the sanding process, but I wanted to balance preparation with painting. I sometimes post short clips on my Facebook art page at facebook.com/fergusryan.art
This was profoundly fascinating. I’m a tremendous Andrew Wyeth fan so this is even cooler. You Sir are a joy to listen too and your painting is gorgeous. I think I’m going to start making my own true gesso. Now to find some rabbit glue. Thanks again for this. You’ve inspired me. 🙏🙏🙏
Thank you Jackson for your kind comments. I actually recorded this near midnight as my wife was asleep and I was trying not to speak too loudly! There are two slight changes I could make to the video. For mixing the second bowl of glue for the gesso itself I said six cups of water and add nine tablespoons of glue. This should be 6 cups of water and six tablespoons of glue. To make it simpler again for preparations of various panel sizes it’s always 1 cup water and 1 tbsp glue flakes, or 1:16 by volume ( a cup is 240 ml, a tablespoon in 15 ml, a ratio of 16:1). Also the second painter I mentioned with Andrew Wyeth should have been Peter Hurd not Howard Pyle. Feel free to contact me directly through my Fb page if you have any questions. facebook.com/fergusryan.art
Hello, that is one fabulous painting. I think it's a medium I will try. As a side note I was just at the Blaskets on my first trip to Ireland. My grandmother took me because she was raised in Inch and although not from the Blaskets she does in fact live near Springfield in Bedford, MA. I'll always remember hearing about the "Loneliest boy in the world". The Blaskets really looked out there to me, although beautiful too.
Rich, that's so interesting that you visited this remote place. The Blaskets museum on the mainland is a remarkable place. I found the images of the islanders haunting. It seems a millennium away in another phsychic space. Haunting. I don't think the director liked my painting as they also want to present the island as a living place.
I have a Note-It with "Egg Yolk Paint" on it so I went straight away like I do on my hunts to you tube. but oh my goodness - I am truly stunned and awed dearest Fergus. I had been looking for just using egg yolks for painting tutorials as I eat so many egg whites!? I hate to waste the yolks! I painted some sugar cookies a few decades back with my children for Christmas with egg yolk paint (using food coloring to the yolks). Hence, the inspiration for my search. This is a truly beautiful painting. I loved how you weaved the historical story about the real scene. Astounding, as in the beginning of your presentation I thought you were creating this painting purely out of a picture in your minds eye. Also, since I have not been to Europe in a few years I enjoyed your sharing where you had purchased the various mediums that you used. Art and Artists involvement both in their craft and the materials they used is quite interesting. I think about where they might have gathered the colors for each paint itself. What a challenge that must have been for the first artists that actually sold their creations. Thank you for sharing. Now to see what other goodies you have here on your you tube channel.
@@fergusryan3395 I just re-read my comment. I am glad you are blessed once more! Now, because I am taking a pharmaceutical that is robbing my memory ( which I plan to give my doc holy hell for ), I barely remember this video. So I will watch it after this reply! Lols @ life~~~ My Amazon "Shop With Points" is accumulating nicely. Hence, I was thinking of buying some water colors? Perhaps rewatching your video will change my mind. And I can get something else on my wishlist? I rarely eat eggs anymore these days. I am in good health trying to move gradually to raw vegan. Yep, you guessed it - my decision was prompted by the $&#@* pharm meds my doc has been pumping me with!? And how I wish he was NOT my cousins husband too! More Lols~~~
Thank you for this lovely presentation. You really covered the process with a degree of precision I haven't found in other sources, and I really appreciate it. I found it inspiring.
Thank you Fergus for this information. I am learning egg tempera for writing (painting) Orthodox Icons and doing as much research as possible. Ironically I live on Hungry Hill in Springfield Massachusetts. My Irish ancestors came from County Cork via Canada though. Your work is vey beautiful.
Chris Murphy, I was teaching an ET workshop recently and one of the participants brought two stunningly beautiful small icons with gilding. I have a DVD by Harley Brown entitled Breaking Eggs, Making Paint which is a step by step demonstration of copying an icon painting by Simone Martini.
Chris, that's interesting about the Springfield connection. Looking at my video again it would have been easier to say the proportion of glue flakes to water is 1:16 by volume for both sizing and making the glue, or 1 tablespoon (15ml) to 1 cup of water (240ml). I the video I have the proportions a little thicker (1.5 to 16) and it should be 1:16.
Excellent presentation and great work. Anxious to try this medium, I'm rather tired of acrylic and I see some great potential with this. I was fortunate to see many of Andrew Wyeth's and Robert Vickrey's works close up years ago and they made quite an impression, as does your work.
Thank you for your kind comment, Aoxomoxo. The impact of first seeing Wyeth's Christina's World in 1970 before I knew anything about him led to my long search to understand what I was seeing, and to understand why this work has affected me so much. Wyeth and Vickrey have that quality of 'mood' and glimpse of hidden feelings and things not present. Of course this can be accomplished in other mediums, but I like tempera for the fact that the painter can keep working over the fast-drying paint, and build those scintillating areas of colour by the multiple hues breaking through the tiny strokes.
Hi Linda, are you wondering how to do egg tempera paintings of shine on wood furniture or objects? There are three of my paintings that come to mind with shiny wood that you might like to look at on my website www.FergusARyan.com. The first two are in the portraits section, Prologue and Reflection. The first is a painting of my wife but you can examine closely the shine in the wood chair. The second is a woman sitting on a wood windowsill and you can see how various parts of the wood are affected by light. The third is a small still life of a toy aeroplane on a wood mantleshelf. See how the light affects different parts. Those three are all painted in oils, but another in egg tempera with wood in various lighting is titled ‘Afterthought’, a girl on a chair in an old mill, again in the portraits section. For the wood on the left side I first put down large washes of an ochre colour and almost immediately scrubbed them with a cloth to make the underlying broken texture. Must be within 10 second to work. Then I painted the detail wood grain and stains over that with smaller brushes. So I think there’s no *paint* recipe as such; it’s really about observing very closely the shapes, edges (soft or sharp), values (light/dark comparisons), colour intensity or desaturation (chroma). So it’s really about very close observation. I sometimes use a small white card with a 1cm square hole in it to place over the patch you wish to examine and that helps see its colour and light/dark value. I hope I’ve understood your question correctly, Linda. Please let me know if this helps.
@@fergusryan3395 Thank you for your answer Sir. These are Beautiful paintings. But I was just interested in painting tables and chairs but shiny. I am seraching about natural paints like tempera, but glossy.
Oh haha! Well, sorry for putting through all that. No, I’m not really qualified on furniture finishes. For my framing is use a mixture of shellac, powdered pigments, and methylated spirits (denatured alcohol). These can be finished with a glossy varnish, or with waxes, but I suggest to look in TH-cam for paint finishes and varnishes.
A wonderful presentation. I"ve always been an admirer egg tempera, and especially of Andrew Wyeth's use of it. I:m always surprised that the yellow of the yolk does;t seem to affect the colour the paints much or at all. Best wishes. :-)
TERRYBIGGENDEN Thank you Terry. I switch back and forth between painting in tempera and in oils. Check out my Facebook art page for newer work. facebook.com/fergusryan.art
I really like the earthy hues in your painting. Thanks for sharing your process. Have you also tried painting on any other surface preparations, like clayboard? I don’t fancy the stink nor product of rabbit glue. Would you kindly list the pigments you have used for this artwork?
Thank you, Fergus. I love oils but I'm sure I will be trying egg tempera sooner or later, and this video was very helpful indeed. Love your paintings, by the way.
Thanks for your kind comments, Carlos. Most egg tempera painters don’t varnish their works as it changes the distinctive satin finish of the tempera, one of its distinctive characteristics. But it can be done. I did it once with retouch varnish but I thought it looked awful and I had to remove it slowly and repaint parts of a portrait. I usually apply a very diluted wash of the egg medium (about 1:6 egg medium to water) as a final unifying layer. Temperas can also be gently buffed with a fine cheesecloth or muslin.
@@fergusryan3395 thanks for your answer, is intresting the thing you say about using the egg and the water as final varnish, i used to think on it but i never tried also because i thinked that it could give problems on the future as an oil hand of varnish on an oil painting could do, i look in internet for an answer to my doubt but i couldn't find anything.
To recap, for two panels 61×122cm, the quantity of glue and gesso is: 3 cups of water 3 tbsp of rabbit skin glue for one layer of sizing front and back and: 6 cups of water (6×250ml) 9 tbsp of rabbit skin glue (9×15ml) 8 layers of white gesso in the front and 3-4 layers in the back. I have one question, is the refrigeretion overnight after the first dissolving of glue, necessary? (For the thumb test?) Thank you so much, you inspired me to try! 😊
I made a small error on my glue ratio in the gesso-making section, which I corrected in an earlier comment The glue granules to water ratio is always 1:16, or one tablespoon (15ml) to one cup (240ml), both for the sizing and for the gesso. The error was that I said incorrectly (as you quoted here) 6 cups of water to 9 tbsp of glue granules. It should be 6 tbsp glue granules to 6 cups of water, again 1:16 by volume. Then to that mixture (when dissolved and warm) slowly add 9 cups of the whiting or chalk. That is 1:1.5 glue solution to chalk. That's your gesso mixture ready to go. I hope that's clear. And no, the overnight thing isn't necessary. If you've got the ratio right it'll always be fine. Fergus
@@fergusryan3395 Thank you so much Fergus! Your reply came just on time! I did the first coating today with just water and glue and I prepared the glue for the gesso with the 1:1.5 ratio (and left it in the fridge). Tomorrow I will correct it. I noticed today that the rabbit skin glue takes a while to dissolve and a lot of brush work. I used a slightly warmer water to facilitate the process but still. I was wondering.. it depends on what rabbit glue you buy or it always happen? Thank you so much again for your reply! Giulia
Giulia S. The glue granules should dissolve in the warm water in about 15 - 20 minutes or so while gently stirred. Be careful not to warm the water above 45°C-50°C or the binding power of the glue will deteriorate. Sometimes I leave the granules in cold water for a few hours beforehand or overnight, and they absorb the water better when heated. But this very watery warm mixture should be very easy to brush on. Be sure you use proper tablespoon and cup measures. I use those little kitchen measuring spoons that are labeled with 15ml and plastic cups that are measured as 1 cup or 240ml.
@@fergusryan3395 Fergus, I may have melted slightly above 57 C.. I remembered you saying less than 75 C, but you actually say 57! Auch! I added more water and the gesso but I was unsure of the result (that was before relizing my mistake). I primed only one board with one hand and let it dry. Should I trow all that away and start again? And, how do I know when the mixture is good? Now it is fluid and quite "gluey".. Sorry for the many questions, I'd love to hire you as teacher if you do that! 🙂 Thanks for the tip of leaving the rabbit flakes in water overnight. It makes sense.
check your local pottery supply for whiting(calcium carbonate),and some carry pigments in powder form,do your research..it's.really cheap.ie:approx.10 cents a pound....most art supplies are obscenely overpriced ,relying on iognorance....don't be intimidated into thinking you need to buy "ART" supplies;one bonus of egg tempera is its' expense,tho' lately the pigment suppliers here in the U.S. have been consolidated,and suddenly prices(in past ten yrs,) have,of course risen dramatically....an excuse for the prices has been limited mkt.,but art mkt is HUGE...as a painter of over50 yrs.,i'm still pissed that a good sheet of W/C paper costs $10....and brushes...damn...anyway,i've had (given to me) Kolinski sables that went bad after 2 uses!!!!...i find that some of my best brushes are cheap,student grade..buy handfuls and reject those that don't work... my message here is: DON'T BE INTIMIDATED by the hustle of the corporations--"it's ART and only the "best" will do....i say,do your best with what you've gpt......that's what starving artists always did...LEARN YOUR CRAFT...you are not an "artist" til you do.....my opinion.....
Judith, thank you for your kind comments. The layers don’t merge in the sense of dissolve, as they dry very quickly, in a minute or two. Also, after the initial washes I tend to work in small hatched strokes, and so there’s room to move around while other marks are drying, and I don’t have the problem of disturbing earlier marks. By glazing medium do you mean the paint medium itself, or applying wetter washes? The medium is one egg yolk with a little water (depending on how runny the yolk is) and a drop of vinegar to stop any mould. Making the paint involves the simple step off adding a few drops of water to the dry pigment to make a paste, then I add about the same volume of the medium. Earth pigments tend to need a little more pigment or they looks dusty when dry. As well as applying the paint with strokes, I often unify a passage with a very slightly wetter glaze over the top, and let that dry. As for a final treatment many painters leave the surface untreated. I sometimes add a thin layer of the medium, but I have also heard of that being advised against. Varnishing tends to take away the thing that makes the tempera so distinctive, its satin look.
I didn't see any visual surface of egg tempera at all in the sky, and wasn't mentioned in the video. When was it applied, what colors did you mix? Also, I really see a flat, beautiful sky so how did you apply the egg tempera so smoothly? Did you apply initial color fairly smoothly, then cross hatch over it with more opaque white-tinted color to even out tone? Would appreciate any advice on this. Your painting is so beautiful, thank you for the video!
Lisa Raymer Hi Lisa. Thank you for your kind comments. In most of my landscapes I have used a very simple sky, usually a warmish grey of some kind. I paint it at first in a broad wash of the tempera which is roughly the tone I want. Then I begin to go over it slowly with more paint using make-up sponges (the triangular ones) with the sharp edges torn off so as not to make lines. It usually takes quite a few passes before the area is as uniform as I would like it. Even then I may do tiny areas of cross-hatching with a No2 watercolour brush to finish some areas.
Ryan Kelleher Thanks Ryan, I’m just in the process of getting ready for my egg tempera workshop next weekend. If you email me through my website I’ll send you my materials list if that would be of any interest. www.FergusARyan.com
The choice of palette depends on the kind of work you wish to do. Painters like Andrew Wyeth used a lot of earth colours (siennas, ochres, umbers). His model Helga told me that he said he could paint what he wanted with just raw sienna, black and white. But he did use blues, yellow and reds too, although his overall finished look is usually quite subdued. Koo Schaffer uses a more colourful palette in her temperas. I have literally dozens of pigments, although I tend to use mostly the earths. In my oil painting I use what is sometimes called ‘the Apelles palette’ of just red, yellow, black and white. The yellow and black make a dull green, and there is some blueness in the black when it is lightened with white. Red, black and white produce some lovely lilacs. However, egg tempera is not so much about mixing colours as interlacing tiny strokes of pure colour to produce complex optical effects. Have a look on my website at, for example, Light In Her Eyes, in the Portrait section to see how hatched, rather than mixed, colour is characteristic of tempera. Also have a look at a recent egg tempera landscape Monterey Pines, to see the optical effects of hatched colour. www.FergusARyan.com
Thank you for publishing this very descriptive and procedural video. Fantastic information for understand the process and what is needed for conservators to preserve or clean paintings. The Seattle Art Museum currently has an Andrew Wyeth exhibit. This was timely for me. You use vinegar for mold inhibition. Was that used historically or is it a more recent innovation?
Hello, I very like your videos, do you think birch plywood and MDF (HDF) is the best for egg tempera? 2- For large pictures (in. 50 x 30 in.) Do I need a thickness of 18 millimeters? I am waiting for answering, thank you.
50 x 30 in. is very large for a tempera. The panel size will be very heavy and needs strong battening at the back. The largest I have done is 48”. I used MDF 9mm with battens (22 x 12 mm) around the back edges and across the centre. 18mm would be far too heavy for a large panel. Wyeth used to use hardboard at that size. You also have to coat both sides to prevent warping. I have used birch plywood for smaller works, 12” x 12” or 10” x 10” but I first covered the surface with a fine calico fabric soaked in warm rabbit skin glue and stretched around the edges just onto the back, then when it was dry applied three coats of Rublev’s Tempera Ground, which isn’t mentioned in the video.
I appreciate your thoroughness in the presentation; however, what I find frustrating about this and other similar tutorials, is that there’s no video of you doing the actual painting. Tempera is finicky and requires really careful mixing to temper the paint. I would have love to see how you do this; the actual painting and mixing of the elements….
Honestly when I made this simple presentation I was not able to do video as I wanted. But if you check out my later TH-cam talk/demo titled Sure As Eggs there are quite a few video passages showing the process.
Wonderful video, and beautiful work. Thanks so much for sharing your process. Do you have any experience using tempera grassa? I am an oil painter myself and am curious about experimenting further with tempera, however the quick drying time has certainly presented its challenges.
Thank you so much for this excellent video. I have been trying to find out how to paint with Egg Tempera and with your instruction I now know how to get started. Do you recommend any suppliers for the pigment please.
there are many pigment supplier. In the US try Natural Pigments (also with an EU base). In France try Ocres de France or Sennellier. In.the UK try Cornelissens.
Hello @FergusRyan, I have mold issues with my egg tempera paintings and don't know what I am doing wrong. I stored my paintings in a cool room . For the painting ground I used a mixture of rabbitskin glue, pigment, chalk and water. For the egg tempera I used the egg yolk and mixed it with pigments. I don't know what the problem is. I do not want to use dammar, terpentine or any other harsh ingredients. Do you have any tips for me to prevent molding ?
A few things to check. Do you have a very humid environment? I use a dehumidifier as humidity where I live averages around 80%. Drying clothes on radiators doesn’t help either! Sometimes a hairy fungus forms, but that can be wiped off easily with a lint-free cloth. I sometimes damp it with a little water with a few drops of white vinegar. I have had one or two older paintings develop brown spots like paper foxing due to humidity. I first wiped those down with diluted vinegar, very fine sanding, and then I repainted some areas. Check out Koo Schadler’s fine Egg Tempera manual that has lots of helpful technical information.
After the initial broad washes with wide brushes I ute very fine watercolour brushes with a sharp point. one brand I have used regularly is the Isabey series 6227Z No.2 size. they have recently changed the series. I like these for their long point. but there are others too; it not just how small the brush is, it’s also how much pigment it holds.
You mentioned gelatin used for cooking. Me wife would never ever allow me to use her stove and kitchen to make rabbit glue. Do you have a video , or could you mention on how to prepare gelatin thank you for your video !
Ettoredipugnar I haven’t used gelatin, as I’ve had rabbit skin glue for years. There are several technical resources you might find helpful. KooSchadler.com has a first rank manual available from her website. Also you might pick up an older copy of Robert Vickrey’s ‘New Techniques in Egg Tempera’ on Abebooks.com or .co.uk
Lis, there is a US manufacturer called True Gesso. www.truegesso.com/. You could also try egg tempera on hot press watercolour paper, which doesn't need the gesso preparation, although the piece would have to be glazed.
Karin, for egg tempera work linen can be immersed in the warm rabbit skin glue and placed on a wood surface, such as poplar or MDF, and then the gesso chalk+glue mixture white ground layers applied on top of that. If you apply gesso to a flexible canvas surface the gesso ground will crack with any movement. Having said that Botticelli's egg tempera Primavera is on canvas. ET paint (pigment + egg yolk) can be applied on watercolour paper but should then be framed with glass, whereas egg tempera on wood panel does not need to be glazed.
hi great video! I have tried this recently with satisfactory results... my biggest problem is the paint is not very permanent and can wash away rather easily. Im using egg to water mix of 1:1 and trying to only delude my pigments with this mix to a nice simi-opaque consistency. you have any idea where Im going wrong? My drying time on these paintings was a few days, from what I've heard the drying time could be anywhere from a few minutes to a week... frustrated, hoping you can help, thanks a million!
Mike Ortega. Hi Mike, good to hear from you. Are you using a true gesso panel? The paint should dry in in a minute. It will only wash off if you try to work when it’s still not dry, or are using brushes that disturb the first layers. I usually move around the image and have never had that problem.
Yes I am using the traditional rabbit skin glue and marble dust birch panel that I prepared myself. ( I researched this carefully) I will say though that my RSG to water mix was a little thin first video said 1:10 second one said 1:20, lol I tried to get my mix at about 1:15..( I have been painting for years and know what the thick acrylic gesso looks like) So, I gave these little panels about 8 coats with minor sanding... I have a small painting that I carefully did and set aside for about a week now and I tested the edge last night only to find that it too is washing off.. Im out of idea as to what could be wrong. thank you for your advice !
This is very interesting but you are saying somethin g about rabbit? I can not understand. I wish you had showed a list of what is needed and where to buy the rabbit>?
Hi Dawn, the materials in the video include an animal glue that comes in small flakes or crystals called 'rabbit skin glue'. It can be obtained from good artist's suppliers. Mine is from Sennelier in Paris, but it can be obtained in the US from Bli ck, Natural Pigments, etc, or in the UK from Jackson's and others, or in Ireland from K&M Evans.
Meann Suaco, do you mean the pigment (tempered paint) or the true gesso primer? On the latter I only mix enough for immediate use, although I keep the rabbit skin glue in the fridge overnight. But I think you mean the paint? I use powdered pigments mixed on my palette with water and egg yolk, and I don’t store this at all, as the egg will go off. But some painters keep jars of the various pigments tempered with water only and tightly capped.
Delightfully information. Thank you. The composition is captivating, almost haunting and the piece masterfully done. In solemn silence, a graveyard of fallen stone houses like sentinels high above the sea still stand, and nothing stirs, even the sea below offers neither a crest nor wave.
My grandmother is from Fitchburg, Massachusetts. She moved to New Brunswick after marrying my grandfather. There's a lot of Irish people in the north east. Beautiful painting and great video.
A small tip from the icon painters, who use egg tempera, - mix the powder and egg in porcelain palette with quite a dip in the centre - this keeps the mixed paint from drying out too quickly. Some Russians use escargot dishes as the porcelain palettes are hard to find now. Another tip - if you put a drop of vodka or gin in your egg yolk mix, you can keep it for up to a week in the fridge.
Suku Mac Yes, I’ve even seen mussel shells used as receptacles for each colour.
I also have a lovely porcelain palette with wells which is great for keeping mixes wet longer.
@100samanthamarievinegar helps preserve the egg yolk medium for a few days while it still in liquid form. I put clingfilm on my small glass and keep it in the refrigerator.
Белое сухое вино, вот что я добавляю.
@100samanthamarieSi
This is the painting I have always dreamed of. Your style is telling a tale, teaching, and painting, all at the same time, lyrically, calmly weaving, with the grass, a haunting story. Thank you. I am enchanted. Enthralled.
Raven, that's very kind of you. We learn all the time from one another, and there are many styles in egg tempera, as in other media. I've just been teaching an egg tempera workshop and I learnt new things from my students.
this was like a documentary, soothing and very informative, I love it and wish there were other videos on this channel
Thank you As Yuki. Check out my website fergusaryan.com for other videos.
Thank you for sharing this. Seems like everything I was looking for. Very beautifully done
Thank you for a genuinely fascinating presentation, complete with historical notes of not just the medium and technique, but of the population of the subject matter. Your skills are inspiring.
You paint incredibly fast. You are so humble about your process. Thanks for the video and the seeing of your process. You are very skilled and amazingly fast.
Words fail me: what an amazingly detailed vid. Thanks.
tutleymutley, your words were just fine, thank you!
I love your colours.
Thank you very much for your in-depth informative education on tempera paint. I honestly appreciate you and thank you, Cory
Cory Streat Thank you Cory. I hope you get to do some new work in egg tempera.
Wonderful. Every part was truly inspiring. Thank you very much for you sharing this beautiful skill and knowledge.
Thank you very much for your generosity to freely teaching us.
I have just discovered you… and I love it!! It was like attending a super wonderful painting class!! Thank you very much!!! Did I say I loved it?? Greetings from Mexico!
Thank you for such a relaxing and thorough account of your painting process. Much appreciated. Also like the vinegar tip to prevent mold growth.
Thank you so much for showing this technique. I am new to the technique as my background is in oils and watercolor. For 7 years my studio was next to an egg tempera painter and now I have moved to another continent and want to try this medium. I had a general idea but your explanation is excellent. Your talent and knowledge are remarkable and your work is exquisite.
Thank you for that lovely response. I hope you enjoy the new medium. There’s one thing in the video that should be slightly different: the ratio of glue granules to water should always be 1:16 at both stages (ie 1 tbsp glue flakes to 1 cup of water, or 15 ml to 250 ml). Then when making the gesso the ratio is 1:1.5 or one cup of warm glue solution to which one and a half cups of the chalk powder / whiting is slowly added.
Wonderful presentation. Looking forward to exploring this "new" medium.
Thank you Dennis. Feel free to send me images of your first venture.
i love tempera painting.I have great respect for people who really love this medium.
This tutorial was absolutely wonderful,! So interesting and well put together but highly informative as well.
Thank you for lessoning me on tempera painting. Thinking of applying tempera to my painting, you helped me a lot to get over doubts and fears to start. Blessings!
You can also try painting with egg tempera on watercolor paper.
Thank you for this , I found it after googling egg tempera after seeing your paintings , so was a big surprise. So well done, and is appreciated . You'll have us all at it .
Great! Let me know how you progress.
yefaircity Hi again, did you ever do any egg tempera paintings? Fergus
Thank you so much for a fantastic introduction. Such a wonderful guide by a great painter.
Vincent Brown I’m delighted this was helpful. I am always surprised that this modest presentation on a relatively obscure subject received so many responses. Thank you for your kind comments, Vincent.
Very helpful and instructive. And what an amazing painting.
Hello Fergus, this presentation was immensely fascinating. Painting in egg tempera looks like it is a craft as much as it is an art. Well done, I really enjoyed watching this and I love the resulting painting. Thank you so much for sharing this with us!
I’m glad you found this simple presentation helpful.
Thank you for the tips, and uploading your wonderful Tempra Painting. Peace.
I just found this video, I am in awe. I found you by doing a search on egg tempera paints (thanks to Rae Dizzle art history); as I wasn't aware of egg as a binder. I knew honey was, though egg was new to me, so I searched and came across your video. Thank you so much for sharing your information, your skills, and your love of painting. Your piece is extraordinary!! 5 years later, and your video has certainly made an impact. :) Thank you!!!
Honestly, I am quite astonished by the response to this modest presentation. It seemed so basic and on such a niche subject and yet it has now almost 100,000 views. You might like to visit my website to see other newer works in egg tempera (and in oils) www.FergusARyan.com
Exquisite video! Thank you so much for sharing your very personal and virtuostic skill in egg tempera. This is the best ET video I have see.
Thank you for your kind comments. Perhaps sometime I may do an updated improved version. This was really just slides, but I’m astonished at how many people have found it helpful. Your own pencil drawings are astonishing.
If only all videos were of this quality. This is a medium I must try, after oils and gouaches/+watercolors. You are a true master, it is a pleasure to be let into Your creative process. Thank You.
Maria Duszak - I’m glad you found this helpful. It’s a beautiful medium.
Thank you Mr. Ryan, your explanation of the natural gesso and egg tempera process was very clear and helpful...and more importantly, encouraging...your painting is also beautiful! Thank you
Thank you, Elaine.
Unbelievable. Thank you for the kind presentation.
Thank you Fergus! This is an informative video and your work is beautiful.
Brilliant!
very thorough and helpful, thank you for posting!
Ilana, I'm happy you liked this.
Beautifully done instructional video.
Lovely, informative video. A pleasure to listen to and watch. Both the artwork and the video show great respect for the material and the art making process.
Thank you Marc. Have you done some egg tempera paintings?
Amazing and very beautiful technique
A marvelous video! I have worked in egg tempera in the past and used your informative video as a refresher course. Your calm, clear, thoughtful teaching style and your beautiful painting surpasses that of my college art professors. Thank you.
saldressage thank you for your kind comments. I’m glad this was helpful. I tried to include every practical element necessary to complete a tempera painting. Often ‘how to’ videos miss out the very thing I need to know on some detail. Here I might for example have said a little more about the sanding process, but I wanted to balance preparation with painting. I sometimes post short clips on my Facebook art page at facebook.com/fergusryan.art
Very informative & the artwork was just beautiful.
Joanne Carroll - That’s very kind of you, thank you.
Thank you! I appreciate the well-made film and your beautiful painting!
Cindy, I'm delighted you found this helpful. I'm always amazed that people find a modest production like this and benefit from it.
This is a fantastic resource to have. Thank you Fergus!
This was profoundly fascinating. I’m a tremendous Andrew Wyeth fan so this is even cooler. You Sir are a joy to listen too and your painting is gorgeous. I think I’m going to start making my own true gesso. Now to find some rabbit glue. Thanks again for this. You’ve inspired me. 🙏🙏🙏
Thank you Jackson for your kind comments. I actually recorded this near midnight as my wife was asleep and I was trying not to speak too loudly! There are two slight changes I could make to the video. For mixing the second bowl of glue for the gesso itself I said six cups of water and add nine tablespoons of glue. This should be 6 cups of water and six tablespoons of glue. To make it simpler again for preparations of various panel sizes it’s always 1 cup water and 1 tbsp glue flakes, or 1:16 by volume ( a cup is 240 ml, a tablespoon in 15 ml, a ratio of 16:1). Also the second painter I mentioned with Andrew Wyeth should have been Peter Hurd not Howard Pyle. Feel free to contact me directly through my Fb page if you have any questions. facebook.com/fergusryan.art
Very informative! Just the video I've been looking for thank you!
Hello, that is one fabulous painting. I think it's a medium I will try. As a side note I was just at the Blaskets on my first trip to Ireland. My grandmother took me because she was raised in Inch and although not from the Blaskets she does in fact live near Springfield in Bedford, MA. I'll always remember hearing about the "Loneliest boy in the world". The Blaskets really looked out there to me, although beautiful too.
Rich, that's so interesting that you visited this remote place. The Blaskets museum on the mainland is a remarkable place. I found the images of the islanders haunting. It seems a millennium away in another phsychic space. Haunting. I don't think the director liked my painting as they also want to present the island as a living place.
Psychic !
Thanks so much! Great dedication to this process.
Thank you Raymond.
I have a Note-It with "Egg Yolk Paint" on it so I went straight away like I do on my hunts to you tube. but oh my goodness - I am truly stunned and awed dearest Fergus. I had been looking for just using egg yolks for painting tutorials as I eat so many egg whites!? I hate to waste the yolks! I painted some sugar cookies a few decades back with my children for Christmas with egg yolk paint (using food coloring to the yolks). Hence, the inspiration for my search.
This is a truly beautiful painting. I loved how you weaved the historical story about the real scene. Astounding, as in the beginning of your presentation I thought you were creating this painting purely out of a picture in your minds eye. Also, since I have not been to Europe in a few years I enjoyed your sharing where you had purchased the various mediums that you used.
Art and Artists involvement both in their craft and the materials they used is quite interesting. I think about where they might have gathered the colors for each paint itself. What a challenge that must have been for the first artists that actually sold their creations.
Thank you for sharing. Now to see what other goodies you have here on your you tube channel.
Just reading this again. You make me feel great!
@@fergusryan3395 I just re-read my comment. I am glad you are blessed once more!
Now, because I am taking a pharmaceutical that is robbing my memory ( which I plan to give my doc holy hell for ), I barely remember this video. So I will watch it after this reply! Lols @ life~~~
My Amazon "Shop With Points" is accumulating nicely. Hence, I was thinking of buying some water colors? Perhaps rewatching your video will change my mind. And I can get something else on my wishlist?
I rarely eat eggs anymore these days. I am in good health trying to move gradually to raw vegan. Yep, you guessed it - my decision was prompted by the $&#@* pharm meds my doc has been pumping me with!? And how I wish he was NOT my cousins husband too! More Lols~~~
adumelial rothstein Thank you again Lois. Best wishes for your strength and health.
Thank you for this lovely presentation. You really covered the process with a degree of precision I haven't found in other sources, and I really appreciate it. I found it inspiring.
Thanks. You are an amazing explicator. You should write a book.
Thank you Fergus for this information. I am learning egg tempera for writing (painting) Orthodox Icons and doing as much research as possible. Ironically I live on Hungry Hill in Springfield Massachusetts. My Irish ancestors came from County Cork via Canada though. Your work is vey beautiful.
Chris Murphy, I was teaching an ET workshop recently and one of the participants brought two stunningly beautiful small icons with gilding. I have a DVD by Harley Brown entitled Breaking Eggs, Making Paint which is a step by step demonstration of copying an icon painting by Simone Martini.
Chris, that's interesting about the Springfield connection. Looking at my video again it would have been easier to say the proportion of glue flakes to water is 1:16 by volume for both sizing and making the glue, or 1 tablespoon (15ml) to 1 cup of water (240ml). I the video I have the proportions a little thicker (1.5 to 16) and it should be 1:16.
I love egg tempra and you're wonderful!
Amazing Work 😇👍🏼🥰🥰🥰
Wow - amazing process and such a beautiful painting.
Wow your work is remarkable! Thank you for sharing!
thank you . soooo beautiful xxxx
Much appreciated Lisa. Glad you found it helpful.
@@fergusryan3395 very much so. xxx
Excellent presentation and great work. Anxious to try this medium, I'm rather tired of acrylic and I see some great potential with this. I was fortunate to see many of Andrew Wyeth's and Robert Vickrey's works close up years ago and they made quite an impression, as does your work.
Thank you for your kind comment, Aoxomoxo. The impact of first seeing Wyeth's Christina's World in 1970 before I knew anything about him led to my long search to understand what I was seeing, and to understand why this work has affected me so much. Wyeth and Vickrey have that quality of 'mood' and glimpse of hidden feelings and things not present. Of course this can be accomplished in other mediums, but I like tempera for the fact that the painter can keep working over the fast-drying paint, and build those scintillating areas of colour by the multiple hues breaking through the tiny strokes.
Thank you so very much for this video. It was a great joy to watch. I am greatly inspired to use this medium. Thank you. Your work is beautiful
Very informative and an amazing painting!!
That's very kind of you Jorge, thank you.
loved the video...where is this scene?
Spectacular! Thank you so very much!
You’re welcome Judith.
Nice ! thank you sir. Have you got a recipe for very shining painting for woods ?
Hi Linda, are you wondering how to do egg tempera paintings of shine on wood furniture or objects? There are three of my paintings that come to mind with shiny wood that you might like to look at on my website www.FergusARyan.com. The first two are in the portraits section, Prologue and Reflection. The first is a painting of my wife but you can examine closely the shine in the wood chair. The second is a woman sitting on a wood windowsill and you can see how various parts of the wood are affected by light. The third is a small still life of a toy aeroplane on a wood mantleshelf. See how the light affects different parts. Those three are all painted in oils, but another in egg tempera with wood in various lighting is titled ‘Afterthought’, a girl on a chair in an old mill, again in the portraits section. For the wood on the left side I first put down large washes of an ochre colour and almost immediately scrubbed them with a cloth to make the underlying broken texture. Must be within 10 second to work. Then I painted the detail wood grain and stains over that with smaller brushes. So I think there’s no *paint* recipe as such; it’s really about observing very closely the shapes, edges (soft or sharp), values (light/dark comparisons), colour intensity or desaturation (chroma). So it’s really about very close observation. I sometimes use a small white card with a 1cm square hole in it to place over the patch you wish to examine and that helps see its colour and light/dark value. I hope I’ve understood your question correctly, Linda. Please let me know if this helps.
@@fergusryan3395 Thank you for your answer Sir. These are Beautiful paintings. But I was just interested in painting tables and chairs but shiny. I am seraching about natural paints like tempera, but glossy.
Oh haha! Well, sorry for putting through all that. No, I’m not really qualified on furniture finishes. For my framing is use a mixture of shellac, powdered pigments, and methylated spirits (denatured alcohol). These can be finished with a glossy varnish, or with waxes, but I suggest to look in TH-cam for paint finishes and varnishes.
Very kind sir, thank you. Wish you all good. Have a good day.
A wonderful presentation. I"ve always been an admirer egg tempera, and especially of Andrew Wyeth's use of it. I:m always surprised that the yellow of the yolk does;t seem to affect the colour the paints much or at all. Best wishes. :-)
TERRYBIGGENDEN Thank you Terry. I switch back and forth between painting in tempera and in oils. Check out my Facebook art page for newer work. facebook.com/fergusryan.art
I really like the earthy hues in your painting. Thanks for sharing your process. Have you also tried painting on any other surface preparations, like clayboard? I don’t fancy the stink nor product of rabbit glue. Would you kindly list the pigments you have used for this artwork?
Excellent video, very clear and informative! Thank you!
Thank you José
Thank you, Fergus. I love oils but I'm sure I will be trying egg tempera sooner or later, and this video was very helpful indeed. Love your paintings, by the way.
I’m honoured, thank you.
Great video and inspiring! Thanks a lot!
Great, thank you for your comments. I'm glad you found it helpful. Kindest regards, Fergus
Good painting imformation.
Brilliant. Thank you for doing this!
hello, congratulations for your work, i'd like to ask you if you use a final varnish for your egg tempera paintings or not, thank you!
Thanks for your kind comments, Carlos. Most egg tempera painters don’t varnish their works as it changes the distinctive satin finish of the tempera, one of its distinctive characteristics. But it can be done. I did it once with retouch varnish but I thought it looked awful and I had to remove it slowly and repaint parts of a portrait. I usually apply a very diluted wash of the egg medium (about 1:6 egg medium to water) as a final unifying layer. Temperas can also be gently buffed with a fine cheesecloth or muslin.
@@fergusryan3395 thanks for your answer, is intresting the thing you say about using the egg and the water as final varnish, i used to think on it but i never tried also because i thinked that it could give problems on the future as an oil hand of varnish on an oil painting could do, i look in internet for an answer to my doubt but i couldn't find anything.
To recap, for two panels 61×122cm, the quantity of glue and gesso is:
3 cups of water
3 tbsp of rabbit skin glue
for one layer of sizing front and back
and:
6 cups of water (6×250ml)
9 tbsp of rabbit skin glue (9×15ml)
8 layers of white gesso in the front and 3-4 layers in the back.
I have one question, is the refrigeretion overnight after the first dissolving of glue, necessary? (For the thumb test?)
Thank you so much, you inspired me to try! 😊
I made a small error on my glue ratio in the gesso-making section, which I corrected in an earlier comment The glue granules to water ratio is always 1:16, or one tablespoon (15ml) to one cup (240ml), both for the sizing and for the gesso. The error was that I said incorrectly (as you quoted here) 6 cups of water to 9 tbsp of glue granules. It should be 6 tbsp glue granules to 6 cups of water, again 1:16 by volume. Then to that mixture (when dissolved and warm) slowly add 9 cups of the whiting or chalk. That is 1:1.5 glue solution to chalk. That's your gesso mixture ready to go. I hope that's clear. And no, the overnight thing isn't necessary. If you've got the ratio right it'll always be fine. Fergus
@@fergusryan3395 Thank you so much Fergus! Your reply came just on time! I did the first coating today with just water and glue and I prepared the glue for the gesso with the 1:1.5 ratio (and left it in the fridge). Tomorrow I will correct it.
I noticed today that the rabbit skin glue takes a while to dissolve and a lot of brush work. I used a slightly warmer water to facilitate the process but still.
I was wondering.. it depends on what rabbit glue you buy or it always happen?
Thank you so much again for your reply!
Giulia
Giulia S. The glue granules should dissolve in the warm water in about 15 - 20 minutes or so while gently stirred. Be careful not to warm the water above 45°C-50°C or the binding power of the glue will deteriorate. Sometimes I leave the granules in cold water for a few hours beforehand or overnight, and they absorb the water better when heated. But this very watery warm mixture should be very easy to brush on. Be sure you use proper tablespoon and cup measures. I use those little kitchen measuring spoons that are labeled with 15ml and plastic cups that are measured as 1 cup or 240ml.
@@fergusryan3395 Fergus, I may have melted slightly above 57 C..
I remembered you saying less than 75 C, but you actually say 57! Auch!
I added more water and the gesso but I was unsure of the result (that was before relizing my mistake). I primed only one board with one hand and let it dry.
Should I trow all that away and start again?
And, how do I know when the mixture is good?
Now it is fluid and quite "gluey"..
Sorry for the many questions, I'd love to hire you as teacher if you do that! 🙂
Thanks for the tip of leaving the rabbit flakes in water overnight. It makes sense.
Excellent video. Thanks!
Rogjp Thank you
Very interessting, nice, thank you very much ❤️
Really impressive.
Gemika Maloney Thank you Gemika.
I love your family photo!
check your local pottery supply for whiting(calcium carbonate),and some carry pigments in powder form,do your research..it's.really cheap.ie:approx.10 cents a pound....most art supplies are obscenely overpriced ,relying on iognorance....don't be intimidated into thinking you need to buy "ART" supplies;one bonus of egg tempera is its' expense,tho' lately the pigment suppliers here in the U.S. have been consolidated,and suddenly prices(in past ten yrs,) have,of course risen dramatically....an excuse for the prices has been limited mkt.,but art mkt is HUGE...as a painter of over50 yrs.,i'm still pissed that a good sheet of W/C paper costs $10....and brushes...damn...anyway,i've had (given to me) Kolinski sables that went bad after 2 uses!!!!...i find that some of my best brushes are cheap,student grade..buy handfuls and reject those that don't work... my message here is: DON'T BE INTIMIDATED by the hustle of the corporations--"it's ART and only the "best" will do....i say,do your best with what you've gpt......that's what starving artists always did...LEARN YOUR CRAFT...you are not an "artist" til you do.....my opinion.....
Fergus, what an excellent video and beautiful painting. Could you say more about your glaze medium, and how you prevent the layers from merging ?
Judith, thank you for your kind comments. The layers don’t merge in the sense of dissolve, as they dry very quickly, in a minute or two. Also, after the initial washes I tend to work in small hatched strokes, and so there’s room to move around while other marks are drying, and I don’t have the problem of disturbing earlier marks. By glazing medium do you mean the paint medium itself, or applying wetter washes? The medium is one egg yolk with a little water (depending on how runny the yolk is) and a drop of vinegar to stop any mould. Making the paint involves the simple step off adding a few drops of water to the dry pigment to make a paste, then I add about the same volume of the medium. Earth pigments tend to need a little more pigment or they looks dusty when dry. As well as applying the paint with strokes, I often unify a passage with a very slightly wetter glaze over the top, and let that dry. As for a final treatment many painters leave the surface untreated. I sometimes add a thin layer of the medium, but I have also heard of that being advised against. Varnishing tends to take away the thing that makes the tempera so distinctive, its satin look.
I'd like to aim you to download more videos, this one is fantastic
check out my website FergusRyan.art video section.
I didn't see any visual surface of egg tempera at all in the sky, and wasn't mentioned in the video. When was it applied, what colors did you mix? Also, I really see a flat, beautiful sky so how did you apply the egg tempera so smoothly? Did you apply initial color fairly smoothly, then cross hatch over it with more opaque white-tinted color to even out tone? Would appreciate any advice on this. Your painting is so beautiful, thank you for the video!
Lisa Raymer Hi Lisa. Thank you for your kind comments. In most of my landscapes I have used a very simple sky, usually a warmish grey of some kind. I paint it at first in a broad wash of the tempera which is roughly the tone I want. Then I begin to go over it slowly with more paint using make-up sponges (the triangular ones) with the sharp edges torn off so as not to make lines. It usually takes quite a few passes before the area is as uniform as I would like it. Even then I may do tiny areas of cross-hatching with a No2 watercolour brush to finish some areas.
Very instructive. ..thankyou
Mishi, you're welcome, thank you.
That was awesome, thanks you
Ryan Kelleher Thanks Ryan, I’m just in the process of getting ready for my egg tempera workshop next weekend. If you email me through my website I’ll send you my materials list if that would be of any interest. www.FergusARyan.com
My goodness that is a beautiful and heart touching painting. When you said like a dog waiting for it's owner to come home made me so sad.
is it enough to have yellow, blue and red pigments and mix all the other colors with them?
The choice of palette depends on the kind of work you wish to do. Painters like Andrew Wyeth used a lot of earth colours (siennas, ochres, umbers). His model Helga told
me that he said he could paint what he wanted with just raw sienna, black and white. But he did use blues, yellow and reds too, although his overall finished look is usually quite subdued. Koo Schaffer uses a more colourful palette in her temperas. I have literally dozens of pigments, although I tend to use mostly the earths. In my oil painting I use what is sometimes called ‘the Apelles palette’ of just red, yellow, black and white. The yellow and black make a dull green, and there is some blueness in the black when it is lightened with white. Red, black and white produce some lovely lilacs. However, egg tempera is not so much about mixing colours as interlacing tiny strokes of pure colour to produce complex optical effects. Have a look on my website at, for example, Light In Her Eyes, in the Portrait section to see how hatched, rather than mixed, colour is characteristic of tempera. Also have a look at a recent egg tempera landscape Monterey Pines, to see the optical effects of hatched colour. www.FergusARyan.com
@@fergusryan3395 Thank you for this commentary!
Very Interesting information -
Thanks Fergus. Very nice. Is that the Blasket Islands?
That’s right Andy. I explain the backstory in the very last section of the video.
Thank you for publishing this very descriptive and procedural video. Fantastic information for understand the process and what is needed for conservators to preserve or clean paintings. The Seattle Art Museum currently has an Andrew Wyeth exhibit. This was timely for me.
You use vinegar for mold inhibition. Was that used historically or is it a more recent innovation?
Hello, I very like your videos, do you think birch plywood and MDF (HDF) is the best for egg tempera? 2- For large pictures (in. 50 x 30 in.) Do I need a thickness of 18 millimeters? I am waiting for answering, thank you.
50 x 30 in. is very large for a tempera. The panel size will be very heavy and needs strong battening at the back. The largest I have done is 48”. I used MDF 9mm with battens (22 x 12 mm) around the back edges and across the centre. 18mm would be far too heavy for a large panel. Wyeth used to use hardboard at that size. You also have to coat both sides to prevent warping. I have used birch plywood for smaller works, 12” x 12” or 10” x 10” but I first covered the surface with a fine calico fabric soaked in warm rabbit skin glue and stretched around
the edges just onto the back, then when it was dry applied three coats of Rublev’s Tempera Ground, which isn’t mentioned in the video.
Thank you for the video.
Raffaello Sacchetti 5very informative
Very interesting and informative
Maysoon AlDooriaines. Thank you. Glad you found it helpful.
I appreciate your thoroughness in the presentation; however, what I find frustrating about this and other similar tutorials, is that there’s no video of you doing the actual painting. Tempera is finicky and requires really careful mixing to temper the paint. I would have love to see how you do this; the actual painting and mixing of the elements….
Honestly when I made this simple presentation I was not able to do video as I wanted. But if you check out my later TH-cam talk/demo titled Sure As Eggs there are quite a few video passages showing the process.
check my website video section at FergusRyan.art
Wonderful video, and beautiful work. Thanks so much for sharing your process. Do you have any experience using tempera grassa? I am an oil painter myself and am curious about experimenting further with tempera, however the quick drying time has certainly presented its challenges.
DickyG41 I tried tempera grassa, although I didn’t find it to be of benefit. I know several fine painters who work that way though.
Thank you for the reply!
Thanks for the vid.
Thank you.
Thank you so much for this excellent video. I have been trying to find out how to paint with Egg Tempera and with your instruction I now know how to get started. Do you recommend any suppliers for the pigment please.
there are many pigment supplier. In the US try Natural Pigments (also with an EU base). In France try Ocres de France or Sennellier. In.the UK try Cornelissens.
Hello @FergusRyan, I have mold issues with my egg tempera paintings and don't know what I am doing wrong. I stored my paintings in a cool room . For the painting ground I used a mixture of rabbitskin glue, pigment, chalk and water. For the egg tempera I used the egg yolk and mixed it with pigments. I don't know what the problem is. I do not want to use dammar, terpentine or any other harsh ingredients. Do you have any tips for me to prevent molding ?
mould not mold, sorry for the typo
A few things to check. Do you have a very humid environment? I use a dehumidifier as humidity where I live averages around 80%. Drying clothes on radiators doesn’t help either! Sometimes a hairy fungus forms, but that can be wiped off easily with a lint-free cloth. I sometimes damp it with a little water with a few drops of white vinegar. I have had one or two older paintings develop brown spots like paper foxing due to humidity. I first wiped those down with diluted vinegar, very fine sanding, and then I repainted some areas. Check out Koo Schadler’s fine Egg Tempera
manual that has lots of helpful technical information.
Any brushes you recommend?
After the initial broad washes with wide brushes I ute very fine watercolour brushes with a sharp point. one brand I have used regularly is the Isabey series 6227Z No.2 size. they have recently changed the series. I like these for their long point. but there are others too; it not just how small the brush is, it’s also how much pigment it holds.
You mentioned gelatin used for cooking. Me wife would never ever allow me to use her stove and kitchen to make rabbit glue. Do you have a video , or could you mention on how to prepare gelatin thank you for your video !
Ettoredipugnar I haven’t used gelatin, as I’ve had rabbit skin glue for years. There are several technical resources you might find helpful. KooSchadler.com has a first rank manual available from her website. Also you might pick up an older copy of Robert Vickrey’s ‘New Techniques in Egg Tempera’ on Abebooks.com or .co.uk
I wish it was possible to buy the true gessoed panels to get quicker to the painting process
Lis, there is a US manufacturer called True Gesso. www.truegesso.com/. You could also try egg tempera on hot press watercolour paper, which doesn't need the gesso preparation, although the piece would have to be glazed.
I believe that company is nit longer in operation.
…no longer*
So using gelatin would work as well as rabbit skin glue?
gelatin had a slightly lower adhesion that traditional RSG.
may i use this and size my own linen that i have streched on a frame
Karin, for egg tempera work linen can be immersed in the warm rabbit skin glue and placed on a wood surface, such as poplar or MDF, and then the gesso chalk+glue mixture white ground layers applied on top of that. If you apply gesso to a flexible canvas surface the gesso ground will crack with any movement. Having said that Botticelli's egg tempera Primavera is on canvas. ET paint (pigment + egg yolk) can be applied on watercolour paper but should then be framed with glass, whereas egg tempera on wood panel does not need to be glazed.
If you want to paint tempera on canvas, egg with oil, look up egg oil tempera.
hi great video! I have tried this recently with satisfactory results... my biggest problem is the paint is not very permanent and can wash away rather easily. Im using egg to water mix of 1:1 and trying to only delude my pigments with this mix to a nice simi-opaque consistency. you have any idea where Im going wrong? My drying time on these paintings was a few days, from what I've heard the drying time could be anywhere from a few minutes to a week... frustrated, hoping you can help, thanks a million!
Mike Ortega. Hi Mike, good to hear from you. Are you using a true gesso panel? The paint should dry in in a minute. It will only wash off if you try to work when it’s still not dry, or are using brushes that disturb the first layers. I usually move around the image and have never had that problem.
Yes I am using the traditional rabbit skin glue and marble dust birch panel that I prepared myself. ( I researched this carefully) I will say though that my RSG to water mix was a little thin first video said 1:10 second one said 1:20, lol I tried to get my mix at about 1:15..( I have been painting for years and know what the thick acrylic gesso looks like) So, I gave these little panels about 8 coats with minor sanding... I have a small painting that I carefully did and set aside for about a week now and I tested the edge last night only to find that it too is washing off.. Im out of idea as to what could be wrong. thank you for your advice !
Mike Ortega Is it possible the medium to tempered paint ratio is too low? That is not enough binder to hold it together?
This is very interesting but you are saying somethin g about rabbit? I can not understand. I wish you had showed a list of what is needed and where to buy the rabbit>?
Hi Dawn, the materials in the video include an animal glue that comes in small flakes or crystals called 'rabbit skin glue'. It can be obtained from good artist's suppliers. Mine is from Sennelier in Paris, but it can be obtained in the US from Bli
ck, Natural Pigments, etc, or in the UK from Jackson's and others, or in Ireland from K&M Evans.
How do u store the tempera u made?
Meann Suaco, do you mean the pigment (tempered paint) or the true gesso primer? On the latter I only mix enough for immediate use, although I keep the rabbit skin glue in the fridge overnight. But I think you mean the paint? I use powdered pigments mixed on my palette with water and egg yolk, and I don’t store this at all, as the egg will go off. But some painters keep jars of the various pigments tempered with water only and tightly capped.
wow! its cool
I'm glad you like it Halo Malika.