Sunday, August 9, 2009

The First Time

Putting these first words in a brand new blog is like putting the first marks on a brand new canvas—except here I have no preparatory studies to guide my progress. Today I worked for 8 hours on a new egg tempera painting—the second start for this one. The first painting was done prior to attending a workshop with egg tempera artist, Koo Schadler. It was done on a panel from RealGesso, which was not coated on the back and had already started to warp. After the workshop, I learned that TrueGesso, makers of panels on untempered hardboard and gessoed on both sides to prevent warping, was back in business. This also gave me an opportunity to correct some issues with the drawing from which I was working.

I never expected to be working so freely in a medium so known for its linear qualities. I never worked so freely in oil. In fact, I had gotten into a rut and didn’t know how to get out. Here, I used sponging techniques learned in the workshop to speed up the process of laying in the first layers of paint—egg tempera is executed by applying many layers of paint—sometimes hundreds of layers depending on the artist’s sensibility. This building up of thin layers of opaque and transparent colors is the secret to the luminous quality for which this medium is prized. At this stage, my painting looks semi abstract. In the next session, which will probably be next weekend, I’ll begin rendering the form in the traditional “hatch” marks. Can’t wait—I’m obsessed with cross hatching!

How crazy that I waited more than 20 years to give this medium a try. Will I ever go back to oil painting? I don’t know.

This layering technique is strongly linked to work I did as a young artist back in the late 70s and early 80s—watercolor on handmade wood cut paper stretched over 3 dimensional grids made of balsawood. I built up color by laying in transparent water color with large hake brushes, alternating complements to form subtle grays that resonated on the paper. I find myself using those same color combinations now and achieving the same glow.

I seem to have overcome the fear of having nothing to say in my blog.

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