See Prof Lieu’s very first reaction to egg tempera paints, painting on a wooden panel. Explained are the physical properties and experience of egg tempera.
- 1 min. short (unboxing)
- 65 min. video (tutorial)
Video Walkthrough
- Hot press watercolor paper is an alternative to using a rigid panel, especially if you are just testing out the material.
- A rigid panel is ideal.
- You can use rabbitskin glue + a chalky substance like whiting powder.
- Egg tempera cannot be painted on acrylic gesso, it’s not absorbent enough and the egg tempera won’t adhere.
- Ampersand Claybord is a good option.
- A porcelain palette works well so that the egg tempera feels smooth and can glide across the surface.
- Egg tempera is best when it is very thin layers of transparent washes, sometimes 10-15 layers is needed.
- Andrew Wyeth’s Helga paintings are egg tempera.
- Byzantine art used a lot of egg tempera, and the Italian Renaissance with artists like Botticelli.
- Soft brushes work best.
- Egg tempera dries very fast, especially if you paint very thin, it can dry in 5 seconds.
- Compared to gouache, egg tempera is not chalky and opaque the way gouache is.
- Compared to watercolor, egg tempera feels more silky and smooth and creates much cleaner, crisper edges than watercolor.
- You can reactivate egg tempera, but not all the way like you can with watercolor, some of the first strokes will still be a bit visible.
- Egg tempera does cross-hatching exceptionally well.
- You can blend the egg tempera, but it’s impossible to get something really smooth and isn’t idea.
- Egg tempera is very smooth and silky, it glides across the surface beautifully.
![egg tempera banner palette painting](jpg/img_6143.jpg)
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