Silverpoint and Egg Tempera

[Anonymous]

Has anyone ever used silverpoint as an underpainting for egg tempera?

[T Newson]

Hi there,

I've been using silverpoint lately but not to use under egg tempera. However your question reminded me that I have been wnating to search for silverpoint information, and here's something (maybe) useful that I found:
http://silverpointweb.com/

there are a bunch of other silverpoint sites that came up but they had to do with knives and web design and "boring" things like that - if it's not related to hands-on art work, gee whiz, what good is it?

[realgesso]

Has anyone ever used silverpoint as an underpainting for egg tempra? I've used it on gesso panels as an underpainting for oils and it works wonderfully, I've heard tell that the same applies to it's use with ET

[DLH]

Hi,

Silverpoint is a godsend. Even though it’s line is light and easy to cover, it is so sharp it is easy to see, even on toned grounds. However it darkens with time (days), so it may strike through light passages. In light areas I switch to goldpoint. It’s line is even more delicate, but can be readily seen on white ground. It never darkens.

[JeffG]

I use silverpoint for my preliminary drawing on the gesso panel. I first use vine charcoal to transfer my composition sketch to the panel, and then brush away the charcoal lines, replacing them with a light silverpoint line rendering. The way that I use it, the silverpoint drawing is very sparse (ie no shading) and only serves to give me "landmarks" for my initial underpainting... I wouldnt refer to my method of using silverpoint drawing as an underpainting.

[turlogh]

I wouldnt refer to my method of using silverpoint drawing as an underpainting.
It's an underdrawing.

[JeffG]

um... I know. See above.

I imagine the references in this thread to silverpoint as an underpainting (sic) refers to Max and the originator of this thread using a comprehensive, fully shaded silverpoint rendering to serve as their initial tonal layer, which some people use dilute ink or thin washes of tempera for. The same way that folks refer to "painting" with pastel or colored pencil, although I'd consider those as drawing media.

I just meant that theres nothing painterly about my initial silverpoint placement.

[realgesso]

um... I know. See above.

I imagine the references in this thread to silverpoint as an underpainting (sic) refers to Max and the originator of this thread using a comprehensive, fully shaded silverpoint rendering to serve as their initial tonal layer, which some people use dilute ink or thin washes of tempera for. The same way that folks refer to "painting" with pastel or colored pencil, although I'd consider those as drawing media.

I just meant that theres nothing painterly about my initial silverpoint placement. Jeff you're so kind, even though I do use silverpoint to work out the gross values, technically it's still a drawing.

Silly me :oops:

[Dennis H]

Hey, it goes "under" the "painting", right?
Dennis
:grin:

[David McKay]

so does the gesso... :grin:

[JeffG]

Now you tell me!

[Salamander]

Great Site!....Thank you!........

http://silverpointweb.com/

Eric Suchman

[Dimitris C. Milionis]

Has anyone ever used silverpoint as an underpainting for egg tempera?


I have a friend who has a traditionl silver & gold smith workshop, he gave me some thin pure 999 silver rods over a decade ago and a tried some ideas, its a good idea! I think I will experiment again , but I usually use Carbon Paper, under the tracing paper image and that works fine, using a sharp 6H pencil.

[odyssic]

Does silverpoint erase from gesso or does it need to be washed or sanded off, out of curiosity?

Steven

[Alessandra Kelley]

You're not supposed to be able to erase silverpoint, but you actually can, if the line is faint enough. However, most reasonable silverpoint drawing is going to have to be sanded off, if you really want to get rid of it.

Personally, though, I find it so faint under the paint that it doesn't really contribute to the image. I mostly use it as a near-invisible guideline. It doesn't smear the way graphite does.

[jeff]

I use silverpoint under tempera, and often develop the entire drawing that way. I find that I have to fix it before painting over it though otherwise it can move. Which leads me to wonder if it is OK or not to use graphite. Doesn't graphite cause paint layers to lift off?

jeff

[Salamander]

Graphite will migrate through the layers of paint.