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Egg Tempera - The "Forgotten" medium.
Foreword
Many beginners think of egg
tempera as a magic medium capable of solving all the problems they have had before with
drawing, composing and painting.
Imagine taking musical lessons and having difficulties with following
the tune and keeping a rhythm. By switching to different types of musical instruments you
will not dramatically improve your results. You know that music is based on a very strict
notation system and rather complicated set of rules. Breaking or not following them
"hurts" listener’s ears. There are similar rules in painting.
Most of the painting manuals present the color wheel theory as the most
important and the only theory you’ll need to know. This is true if your goal is to
color Marilyn Monroe’s photographs with a set of markers. If you understand that fine
art is more then that, I hope that the following information might be helpful.
Egg Tempera Emulsion
First of all the yolk needs to be completely
separated from the white because even the smallest amount of the it could negatively
influence the paint flow especially when working on very fine details.
Very accurately brake a round hole in the bottom of the chicken egg.
Separate the egg white from the yolk. Put the yolk on the paper towel and roll it around
to remove any of the remaining egg white.
Puncture the yolk sac with the knife and let it out into the cup or
film canister.
Now you need to delute the yolk with 2% solution of vinegar.
Vinegar is used to neutralize excessive yolk fat, preserve it from
decomposition and to make dry pigment more mixable with emulsion. If you add too little of
it, overly fat paint may crack in time especially when used over leaner layers of paint.
If you add to much of it, the paint may become milky-white and dry too fast, so that
you’ll not be able to use the "puddling" technique.
Here is the general rule on how much vinegar solution is needed:
put the drained egg yolk back in to the egg shell (rinse it very well
before) and fill it to the top with vinegar solution. Now you know
your starting point. Stir emulsion and put it back in to the canister.
All eggs are different depending on the country and climate. Summer
eggs have more fat than winter ones.
By experimenting, you’ll find the appropriate amount of the vinegar solution which
may vary from 35% to 100% of the yolk.
Egg yolk is a natural emulsion which consists of 24% fat, 16% albumen
and vitellin, 9% lecithin and 51% water.
Egg fat consists of 3 acids - olein, stearin and palmitin. It dries or hardens very
slowly. The hardening process may take up to several months. Albumen, and vitellin - are
strong emulsifiers. Without them oil and water could not have been in the state of an
emulsion. Lecithin - is a fatty substance which slows drying time of oils.
The egg yolk must be diluted with water or preferably with 2%- 3% of
organic acid solution.
Italian artists used fig juice, young wine or grape vinegar. Germans - you’ve guessed
it right - beer. Russians - their ancient beverage - kvas (there are over 1000
recipes).
Paint Preparation
Using mask, mix the dry pigments very well with your vinegar solution or water on the glass palette using the palette knife. Then put this paint paste in to the cup and add the emulsion. Each pigment requires different amount of the binder. Start from 1:1 proportion.
The Board
Don’t save on wood. Use radial cut - the
middle part of the tree trunk. Non-resinous woods are preferable although Canadian clear
fir will work just as fine as ash, birch, mahogany, poplar, linden or bass.
Score the face of the board with a knife and cover it with warm 5%
solution of a rabbit skin glue. Let it dry for 6 hours. Apply another coat. Let dry again.
Soak a piece of fabric or canvas in 10% solution of rabbit skin glue
warmed in double boiler and glue it on the board rubbing from the center out. Let it dry
for 10 to 24 hours. Trim the excess of the canvas with a knife.
The Gesso
Add 1 tablespoon of rabbit skin glue to 2 oz. of
cold water and leave it for 1 hour. Warm it in a double boiler and slowly add 1 tablespoon
of hot linseed oil while stirring with a round stick.
Add 3 oz. of hot water, mix gently for 1 minute.
Turn off the heat source and sprinkle slowly through a strainer the
mixture of 7 oz. of whiting (calcium carbonate) and 1 oz. of titanium white pigment. To
mix it without bubbles strain the gesso through the strainer into another pot.
Apply to a board and let each layer dry for 1 or 2 days depending on a
weather conditions. Sand in between and wet the board before applying the next layer.
Finely, let it dry for 2 weeks minimum.
Step-By-Step Painting Technology
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