Starting to Paint
Now that your drawing is ready to paint, it’s time to start mixing colours. You may find it useful to cover the entire painting surface with an imprimatura, a layer of mid-toned paint on which you can build other colours. It is not a bad way to start, because once the surface has been toned with an all-over colour (for example, burnt sienna with a little chromeoxide green mixed in) you can work away at building up higher tones with layers of titanium white.
For the purposes of this first exercise, however, I’m going to assume that you’d like to get straight to painting with colour. So we will use a painting of an apple as an example.
The finished surface of an egg tempera painting is the result of many, many layers built upon one another. If you have done any house painting, you will know that certain colours require tinted primers underneath. Reds, for instance, tend to be quite transparent. I recommend that you start every painting with earth tones, even if the final result is to be closer to the primary colours. First of all, the earth tones will get you farther faster because they tend to be opaque. Second, they have a more natural look to them than primary colours often do. Therefore, let’s start with a very basic palette of titanium white, burnt sienna, yellow ochre, chromeoxide green, and raw umber. Where the apple is red, we’ll apply a few layers of burnt sienna. Where it’s green, we'll use chromeoxide green. For the yellow, we’ll use yellow ochre.
Since you’ll be painting many layers on top of this first one, there is no need to worry about details. You’ll have plenty of time for that later. Right now, the important thing is to start laying on the colour. So use a ½" (12mm) flat brush. Dip the brush into your saucer of egg yolk mix. Touch it to your paper towel or rag to wick away any drop of liquid. Then dip it quickly into the dry pigment so that some of the pigment sticks to the end of the brush. As you lift the brush out of the pigment, you’ll see that the pigment in the container stays dry , but enough colour has stuck to the end of your brush that you can mix it on your palette. Try mixing some burnt sienna. You won’t need a lot. A couple of dips of egg and a couple of dips of pigment should be enough. Mix it with your brush until it is well blended. Now touch the brush again to your rag so that it isn’t dripping. Let any excess paint run into the rag. Then draw a stroke on the scrap of paper beside your painting. After you’ve used up the first bit of paint from your brush, put the rest on your painting, wherever you plan to make the apple red.
For the purposes of this first exercise, however, I’m going to assume that you’d like to get straight to painting with colour. So we will use a painting of an apple as an example.
The finished surface of an egg tempera painting is the result of many, many layers built upon one another. If you have done any house painting, you will know that certain colours require tinted primers underneath. Reds, for instance, tend to be quite transparent. I recommend that you start every painting with earth tones, even if the final result is to be closer to the primary colours. First of all, the earth tones will get you farther faster because they tend to be opaque. Second, they have a more natural look to them than primary colours often do. Therefore, let’s start with a very basic palette of titanium white, burnt sienna, yellow ochre, chromeoxide green, and raw umber. Where the apple is red, we’ll apply a few layers of burnt sienna. Where it’s green, we'll use chromeoxide green. For the yellow, we’ll use yellow ochre.
Since you’ll be painting many layers on top of this first one, there is no need to worry about details. You’ll have plenty of time for that later. Right now, the important thing is to start laying on the colour. So use a ½" (12mm) flat brush. Dip the brush into your saucer of egg yolk mix. Touch it to your paper towel or rag to wick away any drop of liquid. Then dip it quickly into the dry pigment so that some of the pigment sticks to the end of the brush. As you lift the brush out of the pigment, you’ll see that the pigment in the container stays dry , but enough colour has stuck to the end of your brush that you can mix it on your palette. Try mixing some burnt sienna. You won’t need a lot. A couple of dips of egg and a couple of dips of pigment should be enough. Mix it with your brush until it is well blended. Now touch the brush again to your rag so that it isn’t dripping. Let any excess paint run into the rag. Then draw a stroke on the scrap of paper beside your painting. After you’ve used up the first bit of paint from your brush, put the rest on your painting, wherever you plan to make the apple red.
You’ll find that you leave a certain percentage of your paint on your rag and your scrap paper. You shouldn't think of this as a waste. It’s part of the process of developing precision in your painting.
Try not to over-brush. Apply the paint smoothly, but don’t over-paint fresh brush strokes. It will take awhile to develop the right touch, but you’ll quickly see what happens if you brush over a layer that isn’t quite dry: the underlayer will lift, and you’ll have a bald spot in your painting. Don’t worry. Just wait for it to dry, then repaint the spot. It’s okay to use a cool hair dryer to speed this process.
Now rinse your brush, wipe it on your rag, and mix some chromeoxide green in the same way. Dip into egg, wipe on the rag, dip into pigment, stir on the palette, wipe on the rag, brush on the scrap paper, paint on the painting. You’ll soon get used to all of these fiddly steps, but if you forget to wipe your brush, your paint will drip onto your painting, and you’ll quickly see the unfortunate result. The trick is to learn exactly how dry to make your brush so that you can make a good mark but not create too much wetness on the painting.
Keep mixing colour and putting it onto your painting until the entire surface is covered with one layer of paint. You may be tempted to start by painting details right away. Don’t do it! There is no point in working with a small brush on areas that are only going to be covered up later. Believe me: you are going to be spending enough time on this painting. You don’t want to waste any of it now.
This process, from sealed drawing to the last image with the hairdryer, took approximately a quarter of an hour. The paint is really just slopped on quickly. I've paid attention to the basic structure of the apple and its surroundings, but I'm not striving for precision at this stage. Block in your painting quickly so that you have something to build on. It doesn't have to be right; it just has to be there.
You will notice that some of the colours look gritty when they are dry. They also change a little, probably becoming closer to the way they look in the dry containers. If you like, you can bring a bit of gloss to them by coating this first layer with plain egg yolk mixture. But you don’t have to. Try to work with this basic palette, adding white where necessary to lighten the tone. The colours won't look quite right yet. But don't worry about that. If you use this limited, earthy palette to create your base, the painting will soon be completely covered with an opaque layer that you can start to correct by adding some primary colours.
Once the painting is well underway, you can switch to a smaller brush. You will likely find that the first few layers require a fairly thick ratio of pigment to egg mixture. Later, you will probably want to use more egg to create more transparent layers.
You may also find that putting the wrong colour under the correct one actually brings a lovely quality to the finished painting. This is why it’s not a good idea to start painting real red where the apple is red. It just won’t look right in the finished piece. What you will see on the finished surface is not just your final layer; it will be the accumulation of all of the layers you’ve taken the time to apply, and this will create wonderful luminosity that can’t be replicated with any other medium.