Sennelier Egg Tempera - Colors?

[jason_maranto]

Any reccomendations?

I'm trying to put together a pallette. I used a ready made set for the psalm23 painting (in the critique section) but some of the colors in the set had unnacceptable lightfastness and a few were not pleasant to use (stained the brush and polluted the next color mixture)

Before I began my next painting I was hoping to get some wisdom from more experienced users as to the better and more usefull colors in the line...

Colors of particular interest to me are: Cad. Red Dark and Cerulean Blue


Feedback is much appreciated.

Best,
Jason.

http://geocities.com/jason_maranto/home.html

[Alessandra Kelley]

Those two colors are useful, but toxic. The cadmium colors are especially poisonous.

Cadmium Red is a well-liked color, but I never use it (Of course, I also mix my paints from scratch, so the relative safety of the ingredients is a big issue for me). It's bright, dense, and opaque.

Cerulean Blue is very pretty. You might also want to consider Cobalt Blue, which has a less purple cast than Ultramarine Blue (but is -- am I getting repetitive here? -- toxic).

Most of the "stain the brush, pollute the mixture" colors are synthetic organic pigments, which tend to be brilliantly colored, transparent, and very strong. They are largely based on dyes, and have some unnerving toxic properties as well. Examples are Phthalo Green and Blue, Hansa Yellow, and Quinacridone Red.

[Salamander]

The very best thing to do is not eat your colours and treat them with respect.
Eric in Oceanside

[jason_maranto]

toxicity aside, are these good colors for mixing in tempera... I've noticed tempera mixes differently than other mediums.

Also how does sennelier tubed tempera versions differ? I've used regular tempera and the handling qualityies of sennelier don't bother me, but the colors do seem to mix slightly differently.

I've noticed quite alot of of pigment mixtures in thier formulation... colors like naples yellow and emerald green -- are these colors worthwhile?


Best,
Jason.

[Alessandra Kelley]

As far as I know, the main difference between regular egg tempera and tubed egg tempera is that the tubed stuff has added oils and preservatives, which somewhat change its handling properties. Regular egg tempera wouldn't last more than three days, so I guess they have to do something.

Cadmium is an excellent color for egg tempera as it is so very opaque and strong. It might overwhelm other colors in mixes, so you should probably use less of it. I'm not sure about the properties of Cerulean Blue, as I tend to use Manganese Blue when I need a color like that.

As for blended colors, I suspect it's a highly personal matter. I used to consider them superfluous. Later I decided they could make recreating color mixes easier. There are certain blends I'm fond of, like Ultramarine Blue and Burnt Sienna, and also a mix of Titanium White and Yellow Ochre that is probably similar to a Naples Yellow hue. But most of the commercially mixed pigments I wouldn't bother with.