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The process of creating a egg tempera fresco painting:
To have a fresco that is portable, it must have a stable structure for the plaster. I first build the underlying base with a 1/4" maple board which is cribbed on the back with 1/2" oak. This is solid! Then I lay down layers of plaster which I then sculpt and texturize until I have exactly what I want. Once the sculpting is complete, the painting with the crushed stone and egg yolk begins.
Lost Pigments:
Some of the ancient pigments used to create the worlds’ great masterpieces have been lost. Ancient painters used stones and earths available in their particular geographical areas and knowledge of the locations of these pigments has vanished. Conservationists have a very difficult time repairing many old paintings because they can not match the pigments originally used. One of the recently rediscovered “lost” colors is a rare purple slate from Switzerland which Linda Paul uses is her paintings. Restorers working on the Swiss Benedictine monastery of Maria Einsiedeln were having problems with a particular shade of violet. The pigment dated back to the eighteenth century and was not available anywhere. The restorers turned to Dr. George Kremer who is an expert in historical pigments. After many years of searching, the violet pigment was found by chance when Kremer was driving in the Swiss Alps and saw some rocks glinting in the mountains. It turned out that it was precisely the stone pigment the conservationists has been looking for. Linda uses this rediscovered ground stone everyday. it gives new meaning to the words 'quantities are limited'!
Historical Pigments:
Some historically fascinating pigments, which are still available today ( but not used by this artist) include Tyrean Imperial Purple which was so rare it was only used in the robes of emperors and kings. It is collected from a shellfish called Pupura Lapillus and 1 gram of this dye is made from the secretion of 10,000 large sea snails. Sepia, which was used in architectural drawings, is collected from Adriatic cuttlefish. Some of these Renaissance pigments are also very toxic and were responsible for the early death of many a painter and printmaker.
Among the more bizarre
historical pigments was Indian Yellow which was made
by feeding mangoes to cows, collecting their urine, and
then evaporating the liquid to create an amazing color.
This process is extinct (thank goodness)
Deep carmine red was made from the bodies
of female wingless insects that fed on prickly
pear cactus.
Caput Mortum (literally translated as
death's head) is a pigment originally
made from the wrappings of mummies Adapted for
today's world, (and a lack of available
mummies), artist Linda Paul uses a caput
mortem which is a natural iron oxide with
complex layerings of siena red and dark
brown-black colors.
For more about egg tempera paintings, visit Society of egg tempera painters
Questions, comments, or to order email the artist or call toll free 1-800-936-9958 or 303-604-9958
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