Preparing the Pigments
The dry pigments will arrive in your studio in small paper sacks or plastic or glass jars. If you purchase a number of small, plastic containers of a uniform size, your paint mixing will be made simple. Most discount stores sell packages of clear plastic storage containers, but if you can get hold of some old prescription bottles or 35mm film canisters, these will work just as well.
Fill each container nearly to the rim with dry pigment. Label the container so that you know what you have. It might not seem necessary at first, but if your collection of colours grows, you will be glad that you took the time to do it from the start. Many of the pigments look similar in their dry state, and it is helpful to know exactly what you’re using. If the containers came with caps, don’t bother putting these back on. Place the filled containers into the biscuit tin or whatever box you have. Organize them in whatever way seems logical to you. It’s a nice thing to look down into your pigment box and see a rainbow, but you may come up with a better way of sorting them yourself.
Fill each container nearly to the rim with dry pigment. Label the container so that you know what you have. It might not seem necessary at first, but if your collection of colours grows, you will be glad that you took the time to do it from the start. Many of the pigments look similar in their dry state, and it is helpful to know exactly what you’re using. If the containers came with caps, don’t bother putting these back on. Place the filled containers into the biscuit tin or whatever box you have. Organize them in whatever way seems logical to you. It’s a nice thing to look down into your pigment box and see a rainbow, but you may come up with a better way of sorting them yourself.
Keep the original purchased containers of pigment well sealed and in a dry place. I find that putting open paper sacks into zip-lock plastic bags keeps them from wheezing dust into the air when I move them around. Most pigments should be light-fast, but it is probably a good idea to keep them out of direct sunlight.
Preparing the Egg Yolk
If you can use an extra egg white in your cooking, have a saucer ready to catch and save it. If you don’t mind rinsing it down the drain, you can work over a sink. In either case, crack the egg open and slide the yolk into your hand. Be careful not to tear it with the sharp edge of the shell. You will notice a couple of things about the yolk: first, it is held together by a thin membrane; second, there are two thick white strands attached to the membrane. All of these must be discarded.
Rolling the yolk gently, pass it back and forth between your hands. As you do this, you may find it helpful to wipe the excess egg white off your free hand onto a rag or paper towel. After you’ve passed the yolk back and forth a few times, it should become dry enough to pick up. Squeezing it very gently on one side, see if you can pick it up between your thumb and forefinger. If the yolk is not dry enough to pick up, roll it on your hands a few more times. Now lift it up completely and suspend it over your jar. With your other hand, pierce the underside of the suspended yolk with your toothpick, fork tine, or knife point. The contents of the yolk will drop into the jar, leaving the membrane and other strands in your hand. Toss these away.
Now add about six parts water to the yolk. That is, if the egg yolk is one part, add six times its volume in water. Put the lid on your jar and shake it up. It will be pale yellow or orange, depending on the colour of your egg yolk. If you find that the egg yolk does not dissolve easily in the water, next time add a little water to the jar before you put in the egg yolk. It is perfectly fine to stir it if necessary.
Pour about a third of this mixture into your small saucer, and put the rest of the yolk mixture in the refrigerator. It will keep for quite some time before it starts to go off. You’ll know when it does, because it will smell bad. You can throw it away and start again, but make sure that you clean your mix jar well between uses, or the bacteria will start the decaying process early with the next batch.
You may find that the yolk and water will separate in the jar in your refrigerator. Just make sure that you shake it before adding it to your saucer.
Setting up your Work Space
Your work bench should now be set up with the following items on it:
• Box of open pigment containers
• Rinse water
• Palette
• Saucer of egg mixture
• Brushes
• Rag or paper towel for wiping your brushes
• Box of open pigment containers
• Rinse water
• Palette
• Saucer of egg mixture
• Brushes
• Rag or paper towel for wiping your brushes
If you are working on paper, place a solid board on your easel, and tape the paper to the board at the top and the bottom. A nice way to do this is to place two pieces of masking tape to the back of the paper so that they protrude past the top and the bottom. Then turn the paper over and tape across these strips onto your board. If you're worried about it falling off, use some push pins too.
If you are working on panel, place it on your easel with another board behind it for support.
In either case, if you have room on your support board, tape a piece of scrap paper to it beside your painting surface. You’ll need this for getting excess paint off your brush.
The Drawing beneath your Painting
In earlier days, it was common practice to work the entire painting up in India ink before applying colour. If you want to do this, by all means go ahead. I like to get on with painting, so I find that a simple pencil line will do.
You have a few choices. You can draw directly onto the paper or panel with a pencil. Or you can transfer a sketch or photograph onto the surface by tracing. If you are working on paper, you may be able to trace an outline with a light table or bright window. But if your paper is too thick to see through, or if you’re using a panel, you will need to use the carbon transfer method.
Incidentally, there is graphite transfer paper available on the market, but I advise against using it for egg tempera. I have seen a painting ruined because graphite resists water. There is nothing worse than working diligently for hours on a painting, only to realize that your paint won’t adhere to the panel wherever you’ve traced a line. It is for this reason that I recommend using only water soluble pencils for under drawings. If you prefer graphite over charcoal, there are several water soluble brands on the market. But regular graphite drawing pencils are probably not a good idea.
I have found through experimentation that the best way to get a carbon tracing to stick to paper or panel is to give the painting surface a coat of the egg yolk mixture first. This provides a slight tack that will bind the dusty charcoal to it and keep it from coming away on your hand when you start to paint. Use a wide, flat brush. Dip it into the saucer containing your prepared egg yolk and water, and cover the surface of your painting. After it’s dry you can give it a second coat if you like. If you’re working on paper, you may find that the paper soaks up the first couple of coats. You can give the paper three coats if you like. It won’t hurt. Just let it dry before you start the next step. You may also find that your paper starts to warp. Gently remove it from the support board and massage the back of it until it resumes its original flatness. You may find that you need to do this several more times during the painting. It’s okay. It won’t hurt the painting if you go gently.
If you are impatient, and watching paint dry is not appealing, you can use a cool hair dryer to dry the painting. Whatever you do, however, don’t use a hot hair dryer. You’ll likely cook the painting, and if the panel or paper expands and contracts with the heat, it will soon let go of the paint, and you’ll have an unpleasant and disappointing mess on your hands. A nice, cool stream of air will speed up the process without causing any damage
You have a few choices. You can draw directly onto the paper or panel with a pencil. Or you can transfer a sketch or photograph onto the surface by tracing. If you are working on paper, you may be able to trace an outline with a light table or bright window. But if your paper is too thick to see through, or if you’re using a panel, you will need to use the carbon transfer method.
Incidentally, there is graphite transfer paper available on the market, but I advise against using it for egg tempera. I have seen a painting ruined because graphite resists water. There is nothing worse than working diligently for hours on a painting, only to realize that your paint won’t adhere to the panel wherever you’ve traced a line. It is for this reason that I recommend using only water soluble pencils for under drawings. If you prefer graphite over charcoal, there are several water soluble brands on the market. But regular graphite drawing pencils are probably not a good idea.
I have found through experimentation that the best way to get a carbon tracing to stick to paper or panel is to give the painting surface a coat of the egg yolk mixture first. This provides a slight tack that will bind the dusty charcoal to it and keep it from coming away on your hand when you start to paint. Use a wide, flat brush. Dip it into the saucer containing your prepared egg yolk and water, and cover the surface of your painting. After it’s dry you can give it a second coat if you like. If you’re working on paper, you may find that the paper soaks up the first couple of coats. You can give the paper three coats if you like. It won’t hurt. Just let it dry before you start the next step. You may also find that your paper starts to warp. Gently remove it from the support board and massage the back of it until it resumes its original flatness. You may find that you need to do this several more times during the painting. It’s okay. It won’t hurt the painting if you go gently.
If you are impatient, and watching paint dry is not appealing, you can use a cool hair dryer to dry the painting. Whatever you do, however, don’t use a hot hair dryer. You’ll likely cook the painting, and if the panel or paper expands and contracts with the heat, it will soon let go of the paint, and you’ll have an unpleasant and disappointing mess on your hands. A nice, cool stream of air will speed up the process without causing any damage
A carbon transfer will work on sketch paper, tracing paper, or a computer printed image. If you’ve made a beautiful sketch but you don’t want to ruin it, a nice way of transferring it is to scan it onto your computer, adjust the size to fit your painting, and print it on regular paper. If you’re working large, divide the image into sections, print each separately, and tape them back together. (See the page on Using Digital Technology for more information on how to work with photography.)
If you like using tracing paper, trace the image with any pencil you like and follow the same procedure from this stage.
Turn your traceable image over, and cover the back of it with carbon. This is most easily done with soft willow charcoal, which is available in a variety of sizes. Big sticks are easy to hold and cover a lot of area quickly. Cover the paper completely and evenly. It is not necessary to grind so hard that you produce crumbs of charcoal on the sheet. A good, even, dark grey coat will suffice.
Shake any loose pieces of charcoal off the paper, then tape it, carbon side down, onto your painting surface. Using a hard, sharp pencil or ballpoint pen, trace all of the lines that you want to transfer. If you make a mistake, don’t bother erasing. All you will do is transfer your eraser marks to the painting. Simply redraw where you want the correct lines to be. Before removing the carbon paper completely, lift up one side and check to make sure that you’ve traced all of the lines you need. Once you are sure that it’s ready, remove the carbon paper and put it aside.
Now you will have a paper or panel that is covered with charcoal dust. But you’ll also have a nice tracing in charcoal. You can rub away some of the dust with a soft cloth or tissue. Or you can leave it. You’ll be covering it with dozens of layers of paint anyway. It will be well buried.
This is the time to correct any mistakes you may have made in tracing. Just use an eraser to remove the incorrect lines. And use your water soluble pencil (charcoal or graphite) to add any details you may have missed.
The next step is to seal your lines to the surface. You have a couple of choices. You can use the same flat brush that you used initially to give your tracing another coat of the egg yolk mixture. Or you can retrace the lines with paint. If you choose the first method, try not to brush over the same area twice. When you first start to paint, the egg mixture is soft and soluble, and it’s very easy to lift your carefully drawn lines off the surface. So one quick brushing over is best.
If you elect to retrace all of your lines with paint, please see the next step for mixing paint, then use a fine-tipped round brush to paint over your charcoal lines. If you are just starting out, however, I suggest that you use the method shown above. It's quicker and easier.
At this stage, you are probably eager to get your painting started. If you are working on panel, I recommend stopping now and putting the panel aside for a day. If you are working on paper, you can probably safely continue onto the next stage, provided that the paper feels dry to the touch on both the front and the back. If you are in doubt, take a break, or wait until the following day.
NOTE: An egg tempera painting will eventually become quite waterproof, but this state may take several months to reach. In the early days, the paint is still soft and vulnerable to lifting. The more patient you are at this stage, the better. Later on, it won’t matter so much. I have had the experience of returning to an unfinished painting after a six-month break. After working for a few hours on top of the older layers, I decided that I didn’t like the new work. I took the painting to the sink and used a scouring sponge to wash away the day’s work. Even with vigorous scrubbing, the original layers stayed stuck to the panel, while the new layers came away easily. If you decide to scrub off a very old painting that you don’t like, you may end up having to use sandpaper.
But let’s assume that you’ll be very happy with every painting you start, up until the moment you sign it.