Home › Forums › Explore Media › Casein, Gouache, and Egg Tempera › Gouache vs Egg Tempera
- This topic has 7 replies, 5 voices, and was last updated 9 years, 2 months ago by xislandman.
-
AuthorPosts
-
November 23, 2014 at 9:17 pm #992452
Hello
I have been wondering if the working properties of gouache are the same or at least similar enough to egg tempera in order to use one instead of the other?
I am attending a traditional byzantine icon drawing course where painting in egg tempera is what is taught (later on besides drawing the icons), but for various reasons I would rather not mess with raw egg yolks (and powdered pigments don’t thrill me either) .. :clear:I hope someone can offer me some insight
C&C is always welcome!
November 24, 2014 at 2:50 am #1215411They are two different media, so they are handled differently and they give distinct results.
If the reasons you don’t want to use egg and pigments are health reasons then of course you shouldn’t use them.
But if you don’t have a health problem, it’s more than worth giving it a try.
Icon painting techniques include a great deal of solid artistic knowledge. You learn the craft of painting in way few have the chance.
Most of all you learn about colour, underpaintings etc, which you can use in oil painting or acrylics as well. You REALLY learn colour, how to mix, or overlay etc. I just don’t think gouach can be handled in the same ways though.
However, if you look around the internet, people ude egg tempera differently that we do in icons: they use colour out of a tube instead of pigments, so you may buy those. Ask your teacher about it, maybe you can use those.
Most people usually complain about smell, but I’ll take the smell of egg and vinegar over turpentine any day. In any case, it’s not hafmful. As for the messy pigments, all you need is a bit of planning: put small amounts of colour in smaller containers, instead of taking them out of those big plastic jars.
Also, tempera pigments are economical: one jar lasts forever.
My only problem is the support. I wish tempera could survive on paper, but no: you can do it for practice, but if it is not a study and you are going for an actual work, you need the rigid support.
I personally use for my non-icon work the tempera pigments with the liant binder lefranc bourgeois. Or use any other acrylic medium like that. You can paint on paper with that. You can paint on anything really
Anyway, good luck with whatever you decide! I hope I helped a bit.
Art is the only way to run away without leaving home.
:clear:November 24, 2014 at 1:31 pm #1215408Gouache is a medium that is generally rather opaque and it is workable when re-wetted. It’s not the easiest medium for glazing or using transparent effects, although you can achieve that if you really know what you’re doing
Egg tempera generally gives better transluscent effects and once put down on the panel, stays there and is not workable when re-wetted.
To be immersed in the true spirit of writing (not painting) Orthodox Byzantine rite icons, all aspects of the process have an important symbolic and liturgical meaning, of which preparing the egg tempera medium is an integral part.
However, if you just want to make images that look like icons for decorative use and you want to avoid the pigment/yolk ingredients, you do have options. You could use pre-tubed egg tempera or pre-tubed casein (very similar to egg tempera), which are both made my Sennelier and Daler Rowney, I believe. They are a bit slipperier than the real thing. Also, I’d think that acrylic paint would be closer to the properties of egg tempera than gouache would be.
Jeff G.
Dedicated to wasting bandwidth since 1999. http://www.jeffgola.comNovember 27, 2014 at 4:21 am #1215413Thank you for your input
tubed egg tempera is not available around here so I will probably have to get acrylics which I don’t own.. I hoped to be able to get away with the gouache I already have..C&C is always welcome!
November 27, 2014 at 4:34 am #1215412If you google
Αυγοτέμπερα σε σωληναριο
or something like that, you may find tubes somewhwere.Art is the only way to run away without leaving home.
:clear:December 13, 2014 at 9:59 am #1215409Whoops, I should have noted that not all brands of gouache have similar proerties. The “acryla” brand of gouache is said to not be reworkable when wet, so that may serve your purposes.
Jeff G.
Dedicated to wasting bandwidth since 1999. http://www.jeffgola.comDecember 31, 2014 at 6:30 pm #1215414Hello Flug, I have been a byzantine icon painter student for six years or so, and although many purists will insist in egg emulsion and pigment, there are many that just hop and skip on over to the use of acrylics. Check out bestseyporter.com for a ton of info and tips. Hope this helps and if I can answer any questions, just holler. I am not finding many icon painters here
January 22, 2015 at 9:42 pm #1215410Two very different mediums….
I went a’searching and found a web site with three (count them) three recipes for egg tempera, and there may be more on the net. Also, if you PM Mayberry (Cathy) (a lovely lady), I’m sure she will give you advice as she makes her own egg tempera! Cathy:
https://www.wetcanvas.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1033182&referrerid=134492
Recipes:
http://www.ampersandart.com/tips/eggtemp.html
Margarete
When he, the Spirit of truth is come...he will be your Guide... Holy Bible (Old and New Testament)
Under the Concrete are Flowers Yet to be Born...from a Chilean Poem -
AuthorPosts
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
Register For This Site
A password will be e-mailed to you.
Search