An egg tempera painting from beginning to end 

I'm glad you're tickled Bjorn. Egg tempera is really good for glazing. I didn't do it in that painting a lot. The more you use it the more it starts to look like an oil painting rather than a gouache. I didn't use egg/oil tempera in this painting mainly because it doesn't really do better than plain egg tempera. Both take about 4 months to completely dry although they are touch dry in minutes and the egg yolk loses its colour after 2 weeks. I have made pigments from rock. That's interesting but a lot of work. Sometimes I use a glass Muller to more finely divide the pigment but most pigments just need mixing with a palette knife because they are already well ground. Too much grinding can in fact reduce the colour intensity for some pigments.

Hi and thanks. Perhaps I was a bit unclear at the start but I didn't use a pencil at all. I was using silverpoint. That's sterling silver wire in a pencil holder. It is like a 4H pencil on gesso. I think you're right about graphite pencil not being so good under watercolours of any sort. It tends to resist the paint and strike through. I sometimes use conte or maybe even charcoal as long as I dust it off. Mostly I just draw with a brush which makes a rather free painting. There is a tendancy to get very rigid and precise with egg tempera but it doesn't have to be that way. It can be a very fast and loose medium too.

That's true that some of the mineral pigments are quite grainy. I do think that might be the supplier generally though because I only have had serious problems with burnt umber for some reason. Really I can't be bothered to grind the umber with a glass muller though, so I often just don't use it since I can make a similar colour from yellow ochre and a variety of reds and blues. It is very tiresome grinding and I only do it when I want something special like a pigment I have actually ground up from some rock. I think egg tempera needs to be fun rather than tiresome so putting up with some of its more fiddly aspects that are mostly important only for icon painting is not my thing. Having seen a few traditional icons too I would suggest that grinding has never been too popular. Also, some colours actually deteriorate with too much grinding and become grey.

@@waxeggoil3130 Thank you for sharing your experience.

Painting on gessoed wood, MDF, Masonite or plywood is best. You can do it on canvas if it's glued to wood or ordinary canvas if you are using the egg tempera for oil underpainting

@@waxeggoil3130 Need I to coated with gesso or rabbit skin glue if I painted on plywood with egg tempera ( because plywood has on one side white color)? I am waiting for answering, thank you very much.

I think brush care is a bit of a problem with egg tempera. Not so much from the paint which comes out with soap and water (though that's not so good for delicate animal fur brushes) but it's also the painting surface. The natural gesso surface is very abrasive and wears the brushes down quickly. I use a plastic watercolour palette mostly. Ones with those small cups. A flat surface is good though as well to spread out and slightly dry the paint before applying it sometimes.

@@waxeggoil3130 Thanks so much for the info...very helpful!

Hi. I've not used Birch plywood but for smaller pictures I think it would be fine. MDF is good. I use the 3mm thick variety. Always cost both sides with gesso. I've used 3mm thick MDF up to a size of 90x120cm. If you don't balance the glue (gesso) tension on both sides then they can warp. The back side doesn't have to be finished as well. You could use 18mm thick but it is very heavy and difficult to mount a at the size you're interested in. They can still warp unless the gesso is on both sides. Masonite of about 5mm thickness is probably best to use for large work.

@@waxeggoil3130Thank you very much.

@@waxeggoil3130 Thank you very much, but before I paint much better to stick very fine linen on plywood, and make gesso on the canvas when stuck on the plywood or masonite?

Hi Sandipan. I'm in Australia. I just get it at a hardware store. Nearly any hard surface can be used though so long as its not rough. Masonite is good, or smooth mounting board. You can use a fine cloth glued to wooden board or planed wooden boards themselves. Old furniture sometimes has very good quality plywood which is smooth enough too. You just must coat thinner sheets of anything with gesso on both sides to prevent warping. Egg tempera works best on rabbit skin glue gesso or casein gesso that has been sanded to egg shell finish.

Although traditional rabbit skin glue and chalk gesso has stood the test of time, there is a new acrylic ABSORBENT desso that seems promising. I have used it on some small paintings and this ground seems to supply the tooth egg yolk needs to latch on to the surface and not lift or come off. Time will tell if it;s archival as well...@@waxeggoil3130

Yes definitely use water. There is some dry white wine already in my medium. That helps to improve the preservation and paint handling.

@@waxeggoil3130 Saw your recent video and it was interesting that you use wine in your medium. I am just starting egg tempera and using linseed and dammar with the egg. Using just water to thin mine was losing adhesion so I tried adding more egg and it worked for me.

@@justinjuncl it can be thinned a long way before it loses adhesion. I dont think id thin it with wine myself though i dont expect it would be much of a problem. You also have to be careful of having too much medium. Thats more or less solved by the initial diluting with wine though. Too much and youll find it dries glossy and maybe greasy too. It can also lift off in pieces as well.

Yes its fine to store it in the fridge. I think you do mean just the medium. I keep it in both sealed jars and in syringes. The syringes keep longer because less air gets to the medium. They will last perhaps a month like that. Paints with medium are harder to store but i use a palette with a lid and wet sponges inside all inside a plastic bag. That can keep a long while too maybe a week. Theres not much wastage. Egg tempera would have to be the least expensive way of painting i think. Pigments take many years to use up even if some are quite expensive it still works out a fraction of the cost of say oil paint by comparison.

@@waxeggoil3130 Thank you! is it also possible to make my own pigments from pastels or nature and if so is it cheaper? or would you recommend buying already made pigments?