Egg Tempera Demo by Alex Garcia

[AlexGarcia]

I put together a basic demo of egg tempera for another website and would like to also share it here.

http://www.alexgarciafineart.com/fineart/egg-tempera-demo.asp

[RobM]

Great demo Alex..........

[Dennis H]

Alex,
That looks great. Let's do a book!
Dennis

[PhilS]

Nice job, Alex!
One suggestion: I used to use dry pigments until I realized that it is almost impossible to mix them without generating dust. I could wear a mask when mixing my paints, but the easier solution is to store the pigments in paste form in airtight containers (i.e. baby food jars). Mix enough to last for a couple of months, otherwise there is a tendency to mold. The exceptions are titanium white and ultramarine blue, which harden under water.
Good luck with your endeavor!
Phil

[AlexGarcia]

Thanks guys. A book? That certainly would be a fun project. I think between you, Rob and Phil we would have a winner.

Phil, thanks for the suggestion. I have enough baby food jars so maybe I will give it a shot.

[ChrisM]

thank you so much for the demo. It is very helpful to me and I know I'll be referring to it often. Christine

[AlexGarcia]

Chris,

It is my pleasure to share my little bit of info.

Alex

[jpohl]

This really is a wonderful and very clear demo. Thank you so very much.

I was surprised that you didn't mull the pigment. Is there a good rule of thumb to tell if you should mull or not mull? It's the first i've heard of being able to skip that step, but anything that speeds up set up time has to be a good thing. Luckily I have a huge collection of baby food jars I've been saving up :smile:... although I'm wondering how many I should keep around (storage space is pretty valuable here.) Thanks so much for this again.

[jpohl]

Nice job, Alex!
One suggestion: I used to use dry pigments until I realized that it is almost impossible to mix them without generating dust. I could wear a mask when mixing my paints, but the easier solution is to store the pigments in paste form in airtight containers (i.e. baby food jars). Mix enough to last for a couple of months, otherwise there is a tendency to mold. The exceptions are titanium white and ultramarine blue, which harden under water.
Good luck with your endeavor!
Phil

Does this mean you can't get titanium white dispersions? I had thought I had read you could. With the little ones around I'd thought I'd use more dispersions at first, and invest in a good air cleaner for more exotic pigments... apparently the honeywell tru hepa cleaner is the best value for the money.

[DLH]

Sinopia http://www.sinopia.com has dispersions (they call them color concentrates) in their printed catalog but it seems that they are not on their website. However, dry titanium is one of the easiest mixing pigments there is. Dump it into egg/water and it melts into the mixture with gentle stirring. I transfer the pigment to a jar and take what I need with a palette knife each time I make paint. Virtually no airborne dust is generated. Titanium is non-toxic. It is used in toothpaste. Baby powder is more dangerous.

[jpohl]

Sinopia http://www.sinopia.com has dispersions (they call them color concentrates) in their printed catalog but it seems that they are not on their website. However, dry titanium is one of the easiest mixing pigments there is. Dump it into egg/water and it melts into the mixture with gentle stirring. I transfer the pigment to a jar and take what I need with a palette knife each time I make paint. Virtually no airborne dust is generated. Titanium is non-toxic. It is used in toothpaste. Baby powder is more dangerous.
you're kidding. (although even baby powder is considered dangerous these days... (-:) I should start making notes when I read things without a lot of sleep, because I thought i had read that it was one of the most difficult to mix/grind, but I must have been mistaken. this is very good to know. in toothpaste you say?
I'm in Canada so I was hoping to take advantage of saving shipping with kama pigments... although I'm sure paying to ship water weight may not be the most cost effective thing. They do have a limited range of colours. Will have to look into what Sinopia carries.... I'll likely be mulling after I put everyone to bed (if my one year old ever starts sleeping more consistently) and break out the baby jars and air cleaner.

thank so much for invaluable advice again.

[JeffG]

Yes, Titanium dioxide is also used in most types of pill/medicine to make them look white. Cake frosting too, I believe. Not to say that you should have it flying around or put a teaspoon in your mouth, but it's relatively safe. It also has a special property in that it quickly hardens and becomes lumpy when mixed with water, so that's why it would not be worthwhile to put into dispersion form. Its very easy to mix in the egg medium as you're painting.

As Phil mentioned earlier in this thread, ultramarine blue also tends to harden when wet, although not as bad as the TiO2.

There's more about the Wet vs Dry pigment issue in this past thread:
http://www.eggtempera.com/forumnew/showthread.php?t=114

[Choronzon]

Sinopia http://www.sinopia.com has dispersions (they call them color concentrates) in their printed catalog but it seems that they are not on their website. However, dry titanium is one of the easiest mixing pigments there is. Dump it into egg/water and it melts into the mixture with gentle stirring. I transfer the pigment to a jar and take what I need with a palette knife each time I make paint. Virtually no airborne dust is generated. Titanium is non-toxic. It is used in toothpaste. Baby powder is more dangerous.

They should have everything as they (Sinopia) just bought the wonder source for pigments (Kremer). Color be VERY wary about this... Sinopia has always been a bit over priced and cheesy as opposed to Kremer which was the direct opposite; a great place with extensive information and fair prices. I only hope the brain trust of Sinopia keeps their paws off of Kremer's catalog and approach and lets a great source continue to be one.:crossfingers:

[jpohl]

They should have everything as they (Sinopia) just bought the wonder source for pigments (Kremer). Color be VERY wary about this... Sinopia has always been a bit over priced and cheesy as opposed to Kremer which was the direct opposite; a great place with extensive information and fair prices. I only hope the brain trust of Sinopia keeps their paws off of Kremer's catalog and approach and lets a great source continue to be one.:crossfingers:

I did email kremer (their catalog was being overhauled and I couldn't access it online), and when I sent a question they just referred me to Sinopia, which makes me wonder if kremer will be open to more than local costumers in the future.

Since I've decided to go with mainly dispersions for a number of reason I'm being pretty strategic. I settled on the colours I would need (about forty or so), and will order from Kama first (being closest and saving me customs.) Guerra (the next closest and cheapest) carries most of the dispersions I need, but Sinopia had at least three of the key ones I couldn't find elsewhere.. including the new pyrolle colours I want to try out to replace less stable traditional reds . They were also the only ones carrying ivory black in dispersion forms... (I just noticed Blick carried a line of colour concentrates, but there weren't any index numbers for me to be sure what the pigments are.. )

I have to wait another while before I can be sure my dispersions won't turn to ice en route.

After I have my basics and when my budget allows I may treat myself to a little something from Vecchi (for inspiration), and a few earth pigments from natural pigments. Well this is the plan... I ordered some black and white pigment along with my order from Jerry's (still can believe how much I saved there with an extra 20 percent off the sale prices!) so I could get my under paintings started in the meantime... just hoping things show up from Jerry's... I had read a few reviews that said they delivered to the wrong address and mixed up customers orders, but with such savings and selection I took the risk.

[Dimitris C. Milionis]

Alex can you do another demo in the near future, maybe a Still life?

I really enjoy this as a reference