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Author: Ilia_Anossov_(fresco), Contributing Editor
| Affresco ( In English usage, "fresco" ). Painting done on freshly laid wet plaster with pigments dissolved in lime water. As both dry they become completely integrated. Known as “true” fresco, this technique was most popular from the late thirteenth to the mid-sixteenth centuries.
The common assumption that all mural painting is fresco painting is an erroneous idea. It is true that one can in fact paint on fresh plaster, or intonaco, to make a painting in affresco or a fresco. In true fresco the artist must start applying his colors on the wet (or fresco) intonaco as soon as it has been prepared and laid on the wall. The colors can thus be absorbed by the wet plaster. When it dries and hardens, the colors become one with plaster. Technically speaking the plaster does not "dry", but rather a chemical reaction occurs in which calcium carbonate is formed as a result of carbon dioxide from the air combining with the calcium hydrate in the wet plaster.
Late Morning - Ilia Anossov is working on monochrome under painting. After preparation is done and freshly laid intonaco had settled it is time to transfer the cartoon. Tracing from the cartoon pounced along the lines with needle or pouncing wheel is laid over the plaster and dusted over with charcoal or simply incised (pressed along the lines) by the opposite end of a thin brush to provide the base guideline for the painting process. The under-painting is done with terra verde (green earth pigment) with shadows enhanced in umber (picture on the right) or with other colors, but remember in fresco it is not possible to completely paint out a "wrong" color therefore every tone should be carefully planned. Another thing to remember is that plaster behaves differently during the day - it will need more water in the tones at the beginning and the end of the day and "dryer" in the middle. Do not keep to much paint on the brush - it will result in "blobs" squeeze it slightly between the fingers before touching the plaster.
The End of the day. Ilia Anossov is finishing the fresco. He is putting the last touches by picking up the details and accents. The end of the day for the fresco painter is the most pleasant stage - the plaster enters what is sometimes called "the golden hour" - painting is 3/4 done and the plaster is in it's best stage. It is time to finish the detail, pickup and blend color tones by passing over and over with lairs of transparent color at (this stage the color mixes should be "wet" again). Painter must work fast and precise at this stage because "golden hour" also means that plaster will soon "lock up" - stop receiving paint (the paint will change to much lighter opaque tone as soon a it touches the plaster - when this happens, put the brush down!). One thing to remember is that in the next seven or so days following the painting, the fresco will be undergoing the curing stage and this is a confidence test for the Artist. Colors will dry at different speed and plaster is naturally compacted unevenly although it looks flat and perfect changes to white faster in more compacted areas. These are two of many other factors that make color in fresco change into discouraging cacophony for the first few days after the painting is finished. But do not worry in about 7-10 days it will look even more beautiful and just a little lighter then the day it was painted.
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| "...The idea of my frescoes is not to just look like an original fresco, but to be one." Ilia Anossov | |
| Where does the 'new' come from in America? Who makes the new music, the new art, the new writing? It comes from within, from the ghettoes of Harlem and Watts to the suburbs of Rye and Sherman Oaks. And it comes from without, from Cairo, from Tokyo, from Vienna and Moscow. Particularly Moscow. Look at Ilia Anossov's work and you will see where the 'new' comes from and what it's all about. It's about frescos, one of man's oldest art forms that Ilia has made new again. It's about walls that sing with color and dance with form. It's about the free, unbridled expression of feeling and emotion all over personal environments. It's about living and loving with art. It's about renewal - of the soul., of the body, of America. That's where the 'new' comes from. Richard Oleksiak (writer, Toronto) | |
| E-Mail: fresco@truefresco.com Web Site: http://www.truefresco.com | |
Early morning hours. While Ian Hardwick is applying the final "skim" coat - intonaco, Ilia Anossov is working on mixing right color tones for the day ahead. This marks the beginning of painting day - giornata. Painting is the final and most challenging, of course, stage in creation of the fresco. Before the artist ready to pain several steps should be followed: 1). Full scale detailed compositional rendering - cartoon should be developed and pounced tracing of the cartoon should be made. 2) Color study should be created, it will be used for mixing right color tones and general color reference. 3) Plaster has to be prepared a few days in advance (the earlier the better - lime needs time to "adopt itself to the sand and gain plasticity). Plaster for the intonaco (final coat) should be prepared in the proportion of 8 parts extra fine sand to 5 parts slaked (pitted) lime or so with the least water possible. 4) Panel mast have three coats of plaster put on previously with intervals of 5 days in between the coats or "wet on wet" (scratch, brown/rough and float (arriccio), coat names reflect the grade of sand - coarse, rough, fine). 5). It helps to grind the base pigments with water into the paste in advance storing them in sealed glass jars, this way in the morning (before the painting begins) will be more time to prepare tone mixes. Try about 25 different tones. Use freshly ground dry lime mixed with water as white (pigments mixed with lime and lime mixed for whites can not be saved) all mixes should be done ONLY with distilled water. 6) I use soft long bristle brushes of various sizes round and flat. 7) After the final intonaco is applied it should be left for about 20min to settle.
Midday - under-painting is done and Ilia Anossov is beginning to apply color. Major color values should be painted out first in the same manner as under-painting - work the entire giornata gradually and keep it balanced, also plaster will not take to much paint at once, let it "rest" between the passes of a brush by working on different area. It should be about 25 tone variations with light and dark with two mid tones in-between of each color. The best working pigments in fresco are the earth oxides and other mineral pigments. Some pigments will not work with lime plaster at all - some man-made greens change to yellow as being mixed, so as many other modern day pigments except the ones that specially formulated for the use with plasters. Test the colors in advance by mixing little portions of them with lime, also most of art supply stores should have reference material on traditional fresco palette.
