E.T. airbrush ?

[Lafleur]

Hi, Has anyone any information, ideas, history, etc., concerning the idea of airbrushing with egg tempera? Thanks

[Alessandra Kelley]

I have run across a couple of people who have tried airbrushing egg tempera, and they both seemed to feel it wasn't worth it. It's very difficult to get the paint to the right consistency, and it can clog the airbrush and get nasty. However tempting it is to use to get smooth effect, direct painting seems less hassle.

That said, I have never personally tried it.

[RobM]

Hi Lafleur,
I've tried it. Somewhere along the line the egg looses its ability to bind well. If you want to airbrush then apply one layer, wipe off the unbound pigment with a soft cloth and then repeat. I don't think it is worth the effort and I just didn't like the mechanical airbrush effect.
Clogging is a problem......I guess the egg protests and deposits itself in the noozle.
Rob

[Dimitris C. Milionis]

using a poster/tempera paint like Talens gouache or the heavier pigment base gouache as Caran d'Arche in an airbrush is fine, but when I tried the egg tempera, I totaly gave up, either because the eggtemper I mixed was too thick in pigment as it cloged my airbrush causing a not so fine surface spray, but then I felt I was cheating on my self, trying to use high tech airbrush with an old trait, anyway too make a long story short, I droped the Idea all together, I can only advise you experiment, until you get it right, it could be great for background drops as the sky in landscape painting