Day 60: A bit of progress

I have been working on this piece on and off for last few months and as it is egg tempera it is painstakingly slow. This is an image before and after and several hours of work in between just to add few more layers. I have now finished covering major areas and work on details is about to start. The size of this piece is about 20x20cm and the shiny background is 22ct gold leaf. Hopefully I will get some time to finish it soon as I have two new pieces to start on...

Day 30: A small painting

This painting is actually something I made quite a while ago but I didn't really have the skills to finish it to my satisfaction. Since then my skills have increased so I decided to have another go and sort it out. It is a small painting of happy buddha with turtle, made for my husband. It is painted using traditional egg tempera and 22ct gold on gessoed panel. 

Day Two: gesso panels for tempera painting

In order to paint icons I have to make panels, so after much delay and excuses I got to it today. To make gesso panels is a very ancient craft, as ancient as icon painting I guess. The materials are very low tech, it's wooden panels, muslin,  rabbit skin glue (my cat is constantly trying to put her nose in it) and some whiting. What makes panel making into a dreadful chore is concentration and time. It is non-stop work for about 6-8 hours. I manage to get a cup of tea and a sandwich, that is about it for breaks.

First the gesso is made by adding whiting to melted glue, then this has to be stirred in fashion that leaves no air bubbles in the mixture. After the gesso is applied in 15 thin layers on to the panel with drying time inbetween. I made 14 panels so it was pretty busy. This is second step in the process, after they are dried I have yet to sand but that is not so laborious. The kitchen was a mess but I am very happy with my achievement for today. Not so arty but very necessary for my future projects!