Renee Guerin- Gathering Historical Context and Practicing Artistic Process

Hello everyone,

This is Renee Guerin, just presenting an update on how my thesis is going. As a reminder, my thesis is on the recreation of 15th-century Italian egg temperas to determine if there are noticeable differences with the pigment (usability, structurally, and further) based upon the ethical versus unethical sourcing of materials. As I have continued working on this process, I have been reaching out to faculty, and well versed individuals to help inform me on a little more in depth context and knowledge they have on tempera and painting, as well as historical aspects. I gained more historical information on the fall of egg tempera’s popularity from Doctor Michael Amy, which lived longer within Italy, but with the experimentation and success of oil paints from Flanders, and the spread and diversification of the upcoming media, tempera lost its appeal because of its properties as a rapidly fast drying medium. He also happened to inform me on Russian tempera panels from the 19th century that were exploding because of the substrates lack of durability to climate and environmental changes, and how their conservation efforts included scraping away the initial substrate to reach the paint layer, and transfer it, with the use of heat, to canvas; this, in turn, altered the original piece because of its invasive nature. One of my own text experiments proposes to look at possible longevity of pigments, maybe through exposing them to harsh environments, such as extreme cold or extremely hot weather, and then a mixture of both, alternating. It was a very insightful conversation and I would like to thank Dr. Amy again for taking the time to discuss my topic and its history further!

Continuing on, I have been brushing up on varying artistic techniques with other media that could contribute to understanding the skill egg tempera requires to be successful. I have been focusing on a mixture of micron pen, scratch board, and watercolor, in order to practice the idea of layering of colors, as well as cross hatching, hatching, and line work over all. Tempera painting is often thin and requires multiple layers, as oil does, but because of its drying time, it is not easily blended, and requires layers of hatching and cross hatching colors to get gradations of shades and tones to create a sense of depth. What I plan on focusing in the second half of the semester after fall break is looking further into master copy artists, finding a tempera piece I think is achievable and will push me outside of my comfort zone within the time frame I have for my recreation work, and actually begin the process of making egg tempera, and the collection of resources, while documenting everything as I go. Below, as examples of practice work I have been doing for fun and for some classes that are providing me with further experience. 

Thank you all for viewing! 

Have a nice fall break :)