January 26, 2015

A New Painting: "Angles and Bar"


Angles and Bar, egg tempera on calfskin parchment, 9 x 6 1/2 in.


What interested me in this image was the concentration of small angled forms at the top contrasted with the large simpler space below. And then their were the holes: an ellipse at the top and three descending circles, adding accents to the yellows.


Angles and Bar detail


It's always a juggling act to get the color balanced and the light believable. Warmer/cooler, lighter/darker: I often have to repaint areas several times. Because egg tempera is translucent, the repainting is easier than with opaque oil paint. The layering of color adds depth, a depth the Old Masters knew how to achieve with their glazing techniques in oil, but few of us use now. People tend to think egg tempera is a finicky medium, but I find it very easy and forgiving; and full of light.



6 comments:

  1. Beautiful ellipse. What most compels me about this piece is the way you have handled and rendered the various shadows.

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  2. This reminds me of the words of an older person, "I didn't know going deaf would be so noisy!", in that I did not know yellow was so colorful!
    Red
    Blue
    Grey
    Purple
    Nice!

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  3. Another touchable painting. I hope you aren't buried in snow.

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  4. Thanks for all the great comments!
    Lisa, the snow didn't do much up north, a couple of inches.

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  5. So two angles walk into a bar.....

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