EGG TEMPERA
Egg tempera is non toxic because you are simply using egg yolk and water as a solvent. What can be toxic, however, is if you are using toxic pigments.
Egg tempera accessible, safe, and sustainable. It was prevalent in the medieval era and the early 15th century in Italy. Today, however, most artists don’t know much about it. This is partially because pure egg tempera paint can’ be commercially produced because it would putrefy if put a tube. With no market for the medium, the paint industry has no incentive to do research on egg tempera. (Egg Tempera Misconceptions, Koo Schadler).
So long as I’m doing a material test with egg-tempera on parchment, I though I might as well do a color theory exercise.
EGG YOLK MEDIUM
First I reached out to local grocery stores to see if I could acquire any recently expired eggs. I found that larger food chain grocery stores were strongly against the idea due to store policy of not giving away expired refrigerated items. Then I tried a small “mom and pop” grocery store and met a really kind woman who was happy to give me eggs and excited to hear about the project. Later I read, however that you want fresh eggs because you want the embryo of the egg to be strong enough that you can pinch it and drain the yolk out of the sack. You then discard the sack.
Its important to wear a mask when mixing pigments. Especially toxic pigments! Eye protection is also a good idea. You can find clear glasses for indoors.
MIXING PIGMENTS
Some pigments want to mix with water better than others, so mixing at the bottom of a cup is a great way to trap the pigment and the water into a tight space for integration. First I introduced the yellow, red, blue, violet, white, and charcoal pigments to a little water to create a paste. From these I mixed the various other colors on the outer edge of the color wheel (i.e yellow-orange, blue violet, etc). I stored all of these colors in recycled plastic containers from take out meals. “In egg tempera, the critical ratio is the amount of egg yolk to pigment. That ratio is, more or less, one part yolk to one part pigment, regardless of how much water has been added to either your medium or pigment paste.” (Koo Schadler)
COLOR THEORY
While visiting NYC this past week to drop off a painting, I met up with my old gilding mentor/boss of 5 years, Bill Gauthier (@gilding_nyc). He is a materials specialist and inspired me to return to “the fundamentals” to improve the integrity of my painting practice. Color theory was one of the things we discussed in depth (along with anatomy and life drawing). Bill stressed the importance of knowing color so well that you can, for instance, mix any color using only three basic colors to get there. “Basic” being ultramarine blue, cadmium red, yellow, magnesium violet, white, or black. He suggested that I re-create a full color wheel on using ONLY these colors.