NationStates Jolt Archive

Painters! Do we have any here? :)

I've been into drawing for quite some time, 5 years or so of serious study, and have decided to take a free course on painting at the junior college to expand my options a bit. Any veterans out there? Beginners? What kind of work do you do? What's your preferred method, support or pigment? I'm interested in a variety of opinions.

Personally, I'm interested in egg tempera.. having grown up in the Greek church (Greek Icons are always painted in egg tempera), I have always admired it, and have never since seen anything match its richness, at least to my eye. It's also one of the least expensive to work with, although difficult I hear, and not available commercially pre-made. Anyone ever work with egg? Enjoy it? Hate it? Any advice is welcome, about egg or oil or acrylic, or anything at all. :)

Personally, I'm interested in egg tempera.. having grown up in the Greek church (Greek Icons are always painted in egg tempera), I have always admired it, and have never since seen anything match its richness, at least to my eye. It's also one of the least expensive to work with, although difficult I hear, and not available commercially pre-made. Anyone ever work with egg? Enjoy it? Hate it? Any advice is welcome, about egg or oil or acrylic, or anything at all. :)

I'm not a painter, I just copy classical works to learn tecniques, sometimes

But I've tried egg tempera on both gesso (using egg whites) and paper (using [can't remember the english name of the other egg part, and too on hurry to search for a dictionary]) and I can confirm it is an interesting medium.

I has its difficulties, like most tecniques, and the fact that it is not available pre-made is not a great problem, I believe. You're going to mix small quantities, as it can't be kept fresh for long times.

I can suggest to find a good source on what pigments are suitable: I've only used the fresco-safe ones that I already had, and they're quite a small selection.

I'm not a painter, I just copy classical works to learn tecniques, sometimes

But I've tried egg tempera on both gesso (using egg whites) and paper (using [can't remember the english name of the other egg part, and too on hurry to search for a dictionary]) and I can confirm it is an interesting medium.

I has its difficulties, like most tecniques, and the fact that it is not available pre-made is not a great problem, I believe. You're going to mix small quantities, as it can't be kept fresh for long times.

I can suggest to find a good source on what pigments are suitable: I've only used the fresco-safe ones that I already had, and they're quite a small selection.

That's cool.. I heard it can be tricky, in particular because it changes quite a bit in hue as it dries. I'm starting small with a class at the jr. college, so egg is just a long-term goal of mine, since I've go to learn the basics first.. I'll definitely do my homework before taking on any large-scale experimentation with it though! :)