in the middle

Here's some photos of some of my current egg tempera projects. Still getting used to and playing around with the multiply thin layers thing. I'm finding I have to just "keep the faith" at this point and force myself through the middle stage of painting - I tend to ugly it up before it really starts coming together. Thought I totally ruined this one, but, of course, now it's starting to come around. It kind of feels like a massive house cleaning, where the place looks like a tornado came through and you think you'll never get done, and then you look around and everything starts making sense again...and a week later - voila! clean house!


Also having trouble deciding how far to take each one...sometimes I like the beginning stages as much as a fully worked piece...might have to do some of each. Here's the india ink drawing on the chalk gesso ground. And man, I love the feel of a chalk gesso panel. It is just so buttery smooth and cool to the touch. Half the fun of egg tempera is prepping everything. I kind of feel the same way about etching. One of my favorite things was beveling the edges of the plate and burnishing and polishing it. Drawing on it was just an added bonus! Here's a few later stages...





This one is finished now and I'm in the middle of varnishing. This is not the finished pic...I did paint the figure..just don't have photo yet..and it's probably going to be a bitch because the varnish is rather shiny..hmmm....