Yea, the sparrow hath found an house, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, even thine altars, O Lord of hosts, my King, and my God.
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Tuesday, May 19, 2015
Patience
This is egg tempera, one of the major techniques of the middle ages. Ever wondered how these paintings get their astonishing depth, subtlety and translucence of colour? Layers. Layers upon layers upon layers.
Among the particular delights of those old media, including the delight of slow patient emergence of the light, is that of making the media by hand: grinding pigment on glass, extracting the yolk (or encaustic: the sweet smell of melted wax), the marvel of pure colour appearing as you mix.
I hope you do it like that sometimes! I enjoy it, anyway.
And those media last like forever if you use mineral pigments.
Thank you for your lovely comments - I painted this picture of little Catalina before she grew up and became Catherine of Aragon, the first wife of Henry VIII. She is grasping that thorny English rose bud as if she already knows that it's going to be a bumpy road.
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Among the particular delights of those old media, including the delight of slow patient emergence of the light, is that of making the media by hand: grinding pigment on glass, extracting the yolk (or encaustic: the sweet smell of melted wax), the marvel of pure colour appearing as you mix.
ReplyDeleteI hope you do it like that sometimes! I enjoy it, anyway.
And those media last like forever if you use mineral pigments.
Zecchi has all that stuff. Mineral and precious stone pigments, stuff for mixing media, grinders, slabs etc.
ReplyDeleteI think it's making a come-back.
Beautiful. So beautiful. The painting and the subject.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your lovely comments - I painted this picture of little Catalina before she grew up and became Catherine of Aragon, the first wife of Henry VIII. She is grasping that thorny English rose bud as if she already knows that it's going to be a bumpy road.
ReplyDelete