medium for flemish painting

[romumu]

hello

I just post here a good result I had for the imitation enamel aspect of flemish painting. I used this on a painting of flowers ( jacinthe ) on oak.

first, on polished oak prepared with glue & glue+CaOH, I start with an isolation of ground by paralloid b72 ( this is experiment, not old technics =)

then I use that medium for first coats, background, etc :

-cooked oil with diacetone alcool + sandarac & a little gum lac with alcohol

this is very fast dry, & it give an opaque result, good for working after with glazes.

I made glazes with the same medium ( without lac ) prepared by another way :

-sandarac & nutoil pyrolised together with adjonction of turpentine resin

&, after drying, I made final touch with only oil with turpentine


This medium is very good because of its dry-power & for its porous aspect. I tried in other time doing first coats with copal but this product an impermeable film not good at all.

ps : this medium is an emulsion, it have to be shake all time

[antgeek]

sounds really interesting, romumu. can we see an example of your work?

[romumu]

Hi Antgeek

for the moment i'm not in position to show an example ( removal )
I'm starting a series on little piece of wood ( 5x10 cms ), painting small pieces of nature ( first was jacinthe, crocus & tulip ).
I will show this when I could =)
But you can see my reproduction of Weyden in collection, that is done with the second medium I describe.

[georgeoh]

Originally Posted by romumu

...cooked oil with diacetone alcool + sandarac & a little gum lac with alcohol...

I am interested in learning more about your recipe and the results. But I am even more interested in how you encountered this recipe. Are you saying that diacetone alcohol is from an old recipe used by Flemish masters?

Of course, you do know that diacetone alcohol is 4-hydroxy-4-methyl-2-pentanone, or a ketone-alcohol, which were unknown prior to the 19th century?

[romumu]

hello

I quote myself :
I just post here a good result I had for the imitation enamel aspect of flemish painting.

this is not historical work, this is experiment...

for info you can melt acetone with ethanol 1:1
acetone can be obtain by fermentation of starch by clostridium acétobutylicum

[french.painter]

Here an example (in progress) of a flemish painting I am copying: the Van der Weyden famous lady. The copy is only one centimeter different from the original in size.
I use hand ground paint (linseed oil + pigment) eventually thinned with turpentine. The underpainting was done with egg yolk tempera. The ground is a chalk+rabbit skin glue on wood.
In all glazed areas, I add a very little pine resin and a little standoil. I find these simple products very efficient to achieve all wanted effects.

[romumu]

hello

nice work french painter, really interesting
I can tell you about a book with an interesting article on this painting :

I.I.C. Dublin Congress, Painting techniques history materials and studio practice, A.Roy & P.Smith, "The Washington Portrait of a Lady by R. van der Weyden reconsidered in light of recent investigations" by C.A.Metzger & M.Palmer...

this is the description of analysis attached to the restauration, they describe drawings ( black+red+white in fluid lines ) & materials used namely :

-calcium carbonate ground
-ceruse-calcit-red & yellow ocre & black from bones & charcoal for underlayers
& azurit, red lac & a yellow pigment

Concerning my receipe, I have to tell I try to work with sandarac or copal with cooked oil to work wet on wet. I mean I use this resins to obtain blurred aspect and I work after on dry to mark lights clearly with oil+turpentine resin. But the use of this resins or not easy because of low dryness etc, then I use the medium describe to sit a first opaque layer. I try first with copal & amber but this is easier for second layer to stick on this ( sandarac+lac+oil ).

hu ? well I recapitulate !:
-first opaque, mat & rough layer with sandarac-lac-cooked linseedoil & diacetone
-second, work wet on wet with sandarac-cooked nutoil
-third, raise with oil-turpentine resin/mastic

I'm sorry I don't have camera, but I will show an example as soon as possible....

[french.painter]

Hello romumu!
I have also read this good article in the ICC Dublin preprints, before starting with my copying job.
I find your recipe very interesting. It intrigates me. I think I will try your stuff.
Usually, when I want to paint wet in wet, I simply grind the pigment of the first paint layer in a more viscous oil than the simple fresh linseed. Ancient painters added heat-bodied oil cooked with litharge, but to make my paint more viscous I prefer standoil, wich will not have the same long term effects (lead soaps migrations, protrusions...), and wich is the less yellowing one.

[romumu]

This is right, cooked oil with salt is yellow but I don't think it's the biggest problem, I use this and it gives good results when you make paints drying under sunshine...On top of that yellowing of cooked oil don't really appear on thin layer. The problem is when you use only oil : a too thick layer of oil is not quiet dry until a long time, you can not work immediately on first layers, & painting is too dark. That's why I think it's a safiest way to work with a fast drying first layer & with resins in all the process. This approach is close to Eastlack work....except that I use an emulsion alcool/oil that dry faster

[french.painter]

Hi Romumu!
Thank you for informations.
Here, the last shot of my Van Der Weyden lady (still in progress).

[romumu]

hello
I tried to shot 2 pieces of the serie I talked. But this too small for my camera, I still wait for photos of the first one ( I will show when it's done)

on crocus there's just first layer, opaque & not precise in drawing to keep out of focus background in later steps. max size : 4.7 x 8.5 cm ( beech )

on the other one I start work with the classic medium. max size : 5.7 x 8 cm ( oak )

[drypaint]

For French Painter:
The Roger Van Der Weyden copy you are working on is impressive. Is the colour for your tempera underpainting on the terra verte scale?

[french.painter]

Hello Drypaint.
Terre verte underlayers for flesh tones are mostly used by italian early renaissance painter, not by flemish. Actually, this precise painting has an orange-greyish beige underlayer.