ARTIST'S COMMENTARY (continued)
This triptych was painted on sheets of hand made,"oatmeal" tinted paper, which was used for most of the "Stepped-Mountain" travel studies. The paper was made by a company called "Twin-Rocker" and bears their water-mark. All but the pieces done in Southern Peru and Bolivia, on my second trip to South America, were done on 'Twin Rocker'. Those last studies, were made on water-color block paper.
Sheets of this acid-free, and well made, paper were small enough to travel with and took the egg tempera paint, which I preferred over water color paint, perfectly.
Watercolor paint, which I love and have worked with and studied technique for, has the characteristic of fading if exposed to natural light, after a century or two. Egg tempera has a longer lasting life and is available in pigments far richer than watercolor.
Distinctly different in character, when flowing from a brush, the egg tempera is more difficult to work with. Some pigments are ground less than those used in watercolors, and therefore watercolor techniques can be difficult to exercise. One must also control the paint, not allowing it to become too thick for paper.
Egg tempera has the unique quality of being able to be cut with water, oil, or with egg tempera medium, or with all three, in layers.
In my travel studies, it is used simply with water as a medium. I treat it like watercolor paint.
"Lima Triptych"
Triptych, 21 x 10 inches
egg tempera on hand made paper
Aug., 1987