Prairie Memories
Egg Tempera
14×20″
Every once in awhile I take the time away from watercolor and work in egg tempera.
Although I love the movement of watercolor, I also enjoy the stillness of egg tempera and find that it works well for certain subjects.
Egg tempera is where is egg is used as a binding agent, similar to the gum arabic in watercolor.
You can layer the paint similar to watercolor and it has a beautiful luminous glow when it completely dries.
For the paintings, I use ground pigments and mix them with egg yolk. The thing with egg tempera is that you have to use the paint once it is mixed. There is no leaving it overnight and returning the next day. Because of this, I don’t do many paintings with this medium. However, if I had longer stretches of time in my studio, I would no doubt do more.
The painting was done from a photograph I took of a woman at Pioneer Village in Salt Lake City, Utah some years ago. I don’t remember her name but I am grateful for her willingness to be my model.
Holy Catfish, Leslie!!! I am VERY impressed!!! This is gorgeous! I have always wanted to try egg tempera.
Give Twilight a hug for me. :)
Such a beautiful painting Leslie.
Thank you Kathryn! You should try it. If you don't want to invest in all that pigment, you can use the watercolor paint with egg yolk.
Twilight had the post party blues for a couple of days after. She did nothing but sleep! You really ran her good:) think she misses the farm.
Carol, thank you! I'm glad you think so.
I have never tried this medium. Sounds interesting. Can you actually use watercolor with the yolk? Seeing the results you have achieved am tempted to try it. Fabulous.
This has such a lovely softness. Egg tempera has always seemed like too much work for me but I can see that the results are beautiful.
Wow! Leslie!! A beautiful model and painting…Congratulations on a beautiful piece!!!
Asit, it is a wonderful medium. You can use watercolor or gouache with the yolk. It is a great way to see if you like how it works before investing in pure pigments.
Nancy, yes it can be a lot of work and that's why I don't use it often. But like you said, it has beautiful results.
Thank you Hilda! It does help to have a willing model and the right pose and lighting.
Stunning!
Thank you Coral!