Getting started with Egg Tempera using watercolour and paper

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In this video I’m experimenting with egg tempera, one of the oldest painting techniques in Western art. Using nothing more than egg yolk mixed with pigment, I’ll show how the medium handles, what it feels like to paint with, and some of the beautiful effects it can create.

This is a very rough form of Egg Tempera - I say very rough because the 'true' support for egg tempera would be a gessoed panel, and we are going to be working on paper in a not particularly 'purist' way! Egg Tempera can sound complex (and it can be ) but it is essentially just using egg yolk as a binder for any pigment - it changes the way the paint goes down and it becomes quite different from any other painting process - more on this in the session. If you find you love the medium you can always start experimenting with making panels and so on, but working like this is a nice way to start and it means we can be more experimental with it (if you spend two days prepping gessoed panels then it is completely terrifying to paint anything on them!) .

Egg tempera has been used for centuries — long before oil paint took over — and is known for its luminous colour, delicate layers, and quick-drying surface. I’ll be playing with texture, layering, and different surfaces to see how it behaves in practice.

If you’re curious about traditional materials, or just want to see what it’s like to work with egg yolk and pigment, this is a great introduction.MATERIALS

An Eggs (yolk only, in a jar with a lid, prep just before session )*

ANY water-based medium or pigment- jar of ink , tubes of watercolour or gouache, or dry pigment ( not Acrylic or Oil). Can be a few colours or just one**. (Watercolour pans -the little trays - don't work so well).

A range of brushes that make different marks -those 'fan' brushes are good or old brushes you can cut up to create a range of different marks) . Ideally one bigger, flatter brush and one 'texture' brush - a fan brush or an old brush cut up with scissors to create spiky bristles!