Above: I decided to use some of the sketches I made at Bethnal Green Museum of Childhood for these paintings, created using the Mische technique.
The Mische technique sounded like such a bizarre thing to do that I had to try it. The name “Mische” means mixed in German and refers to using two different types of media; egg tempera and oil paints. The idea is that you paint the highlights and detail with egg tempera and use oil paint in a series of glazes (red, yellow and blue), before adding local colour on top to finish.

When I first read about it, my initial reaction was “What?!? You do what??”, as it seemed to involve painting the subject, obliterating most of what you’ve done with a glaze and then repainting it again on top. You do this not just once, but several times over. You’ll see what I mean if you visit my Mische Technique page.

I initially stumbled across it when I was looking for egg tempera recipes and discovered that it is a traditional technique that medieval and Renaissance artists used to create detailed paintings with rich depths of colour. Until that point I’d never heard of it. If ever you see the tag “oil paints and egg tempera” next to a painting in a museum it probably means that the artist used this technique. This method seems to attract artists who are interested in fantasy art and if you trawl the internet you will see lots of weird and wonderful examples of fairies, dragons and the like painted using the Mische technique.

I decided to create a painting from sketches and photographs I’d made at the Bethnal Green Museum of Childhood. I’m particularly interested in creating a series of paintings with a seaside theme, so I’d made sketches of the Punch and Judy there. The detail of the puppets would lend itself well to this technique (or so I thought).

If you want to know more about this technique and my initial attempts, see my webpage http://www.how-to-be-a-bad-artist.com/mische.html.

You can also see this technique demonstrated on: http://www.brigidmarlin.com/Pages/Mische.html http://www.art4spirit.com/MischeTraditional.html

Left: I’ve decided to use some of the sketches I made at Bethnal Green Museum of Childhood for this painting. I want to do a series with a seaside theme, so I’ve chosen Punch and Judy. I’ve started with an underdrawing using black India ink

Using egg tempera is an elaborate process, where once you’ve primed your surface with gesso, you go on to the next stage “underpainting” or “underdrawing”. This is an initial drawing to guide you when you begin to paint. Some transfer a drawing using tracing paper, others draw directly on to the gesso surface. The materials you can use to draw this initial design include graphite, silverpoint, goldpoint, black India ink and gouache. There are probably many others, but these are the ones I’ve discovered artists using so far.

I’ve found that using egg tempera has educated me in terms of the history of art materials. Until I started to use egg tempera, I’d never heard of “silverpoint” or “goldpoint”, a medium used in the Renaissance period and superseded by graphite later. (For more information on this material visit http://silverpointweb.com). It is a very stable medium and has sometimes lasted for hundreds of years.

For my initial attempts at using egg tempera, I decided to use black India ink for the underdrawing. Egg tempera is translucent, so what you choose to use as your underpainting medium will show through the paint you put on top. I’ll post the finished painting soon, so watch this space.

My Great Pigment Experiment continues and I am trying to guess what they actually are. I bought six “organic” pigments in total from Morocco and I’ve managed to identify some of them, although others will remain anonymous until the depths of time. The names for the pigments I’ve taken from the labels on them, although I suspect some of them may be incorrect.

Murex: This is my favourite as it glistens in the light. It is composed of crushed sea shells, and when water is added turns to a bright turquoise in colour. This is the only pigment I’ve managed to positively identify. I have to be careful with it as any escaping flakes tend to dye anything it touches, including carpets, fingers, tabletops, sinks…

Mogadon Blue: I suspect this is plant-based and is possibly similar to Indigo

Jojoba: I know that you can get oil from this plant, so perhaps another part of the plant can be dried and used to produce yellow.

Caba Caba: This is labelled incorrectly I suspect (possibly Cara Cara? but then that would be red?). It is a red colour when dry which turns to blue when wet. It could be smalt (made from glass) and hopefully doesn’t contain copper which is poisonous.

Rose: This is an interesting pigment as it becomes a very deep rich pink when mixed with a binding medium or water. It is possibly Rose Madder.

Pistache: This is my least favourite as it becomes a very pale green when mixed with binding medium (or perhaps it is better used as a dye for fabric).

I know that fabrics and items such as carpets and leather goods are produced in Morocco using these organic pigments. So it would be interesting to know if they can be used successfully in egg tempera without changing radically in colour over time.

If you are reading this and have some idea what these pigments might be, then leave me a comment (click on comments above). Any sensible suggestions will be appreciated.

Having mixed up the natural pigments with my egg tempera recipe, I am now going to test them out to see how they react to light. I’ve made up a test piece, which is sitting on the windowsill in the spare room (since Nov 5). I suspect that the yellow and red pigments will fade first. I’ll let you know the results.

Here is the test panel, which looks like an accidental abstract art piece

The Great Pigment experiment

Pigments and spices are measured out and sold from huge jars in the souks of Morocco

When I returned from Morocco with several packets of pigments I never imagined that I would also begin another journey of discovery, in terms of finding out what to do with them and how to paint with egg tempera. The idea of mixing up my own paints appealed to me as I’m fond of cooking, which also involves some experimentation and mixing up recipes. Not only did I discover how to create egg tempera paints, but also how to prepare a surface with gesso.

When I began the Great Pigment Experiment, I felt like a medieval alchemist mixing up potions. As my window overlooks a path where my neighbours walk by, I got some funny looks as I stood with a mask over my face, rubber gloves on, in front of a table with little pots of powder, eggs and a pestle and mortar to grind up the pigments. They’d seen me cooking up some gesso on the stove, the day before. Tis some kind of witchcraft, they must have thought.

To see how I got on with the Great Pigment Experiment, go to my web page egg tempera recipes.

I returned from a holiday in Morocco recently with several packets of powder in plastic bags. No it is not what you are thinking, I had acquired six different packets of natural pigments from the local souk in Essaouira, where I’d spent a week in October (see my earlier post Morocco). On returning home, I felt at a loss as to what to actually do with them. Then the idea of egg tempera paintings sprang to mind.

And that was the beginning of the faffiest way of painting I’ve ever come across. For those of you unfamiliar with the word “faff”, try making gesso and you’ll soon find out what it means. That is, it takes days just to prepare a surface to paint on, whereas if you just used acrylic primer it would be done within a matter of hours. However, it is also for some strange reason immensely enjoyable, especially if you like cooking as I do and enjoy mixing up recipes. It makes you think about what you are painting with and on, instead of just squeezing paint out of a tube and not knowing what it actually is.

Egg tempera is not a flexible paint and will flake off if you try to paint on canvas or paper or any type of surface that is likely to move. So instead I decided to use mdf as a painting board, which I also use to paint on with acrylics. Avoid mdf that is green as this is water resistant (and may have an effect on what is painted on top) and use MDF that is thick enough to avoid warping (I used 5mm). You can buy MDF from a DIY store. I get it from B&Q as they sell it in various sizes and thicknesses.

The term gesso has become a misnomer recently as some people use it to describe “acrylic primer” which is different entirely and is not suitable for using under egg tempera paints. I decided to experiment and used two methods of priming the surface with gesso. One was to use a ready-mixed gesso, bought from Green and Stone on the Kings Road in London. The other was to mix up my own recipe from water, white (PVA) glue and talcum powder (I used baby powder, which not only produced an acceptable surface to paint on, but had the added bonus of smelling sweet too). I’m sure purists will be shaking their heads if they read this, but for a beginner who doesn’t want to invest too much on materials, then this second alternative may be a good way to start. For step-by-step details on gesso recipes see my web page How to prime an mdf board with gesso.

Above: I painted this ACEO in watercolours on thick paper.

I’ve always had a fascination with miniature paintings and have recently discovered ACEOs and art cards. Art cards were originally used by artists as samples of their work, which they swapped with other artists. They all have a standard size (3.5 x 2.5 inches), which is equivalent to the size of a playing card. Soon these cards became collectors items and more recently have been sold on internet auction sites such as Ebay as ACEOs (Art Cards Editions and Originals).

Selling ACEOs has been slightly controversial as the idea of swapping art cards was originally on a non-commercial basis and was a way of networking between artists. And there are websites where artists can still swap rather than sell these cards. ACEOs on the other hand are sold as either editions (a series that is reproduced either limited or unlimited) or originals (a unique card that won’t be replicated).

As an experiment I decided to create some of these cards and have both sold and swapped them. You can see a selection of some of the cards I made on unlimitedpalette.com

I did manage to sell some of the cards, but at a low price I thought for the effort I’d put into them. However, I think they have potential as a good marketing device and may attract people to your work or your website as a taster. I may try to sell a few more before Christmas on Ebay and see how it goes. Watch this space for more news.

Above: This ACEO has a small door that opens to reveal a small fairy inside.