Sorry for the long post. I posed a question to George and he encouraged me to share. As a disclaimer, I am a physician scientist/protein chemist by training (50+ years experience) who started painting in 2008. I was trained by Alex Gnidziejko using a technique that placed an egg tempera layer where there is direct light (photo below). The…

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Ann, thank you for raising this important safety concern.

Mercuric chloride (also known as corrosive sublimate) was historically used as a preservative to inhibit microbial growth in certain animal-glue preparations. However, this does not establish that it was commonly used in Russian gilding glue or that the particular product you…

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Theodore, thank you for sharing both your research and your work in progress. Your distinction between reconstructing a historical recipe and understanding what the materials made possible for Mantegna is important. The relationship between the support, its preparation, the binding medium, and the application of paint is fundamental to…

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I few months ago I took a gilding class from a Russian Lady. I bought some supplies from her, including some glue to use in making the bole and attaching the gold. I recently found out my blood mercury level is high (3 times the max according to blood tests). In asking various sources, I found out the Russian Glue still may be using…

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Work in Progress — Egg-Oil Emulsion, Distemper, and Fresco-Like Painting on Canvas

I thought I would share a work in progress, exploring historical painting techniques and materials.

I’m posting this in the Fresco section because I’m attempting to achieve some of the beautiful surface qualities of fresco painting, although I’m working on…

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Thank you so much!

What surface products can be formed by oil-based paint? How would you mount a new panel over an existing panel? Alternately, if I were to paint directly over an existing painting, wouldn’t pentimenti become an issue eventually? I recently read about Vermeer’s Girl in a Red Hat having been painted over a previous painting and I would never…

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Hi Mario,

Yes, there are studies on Regalrez 1094, but most of the published research concerns its use as a conservation varnish or saturating resin, rather than as a resin incorporated into an oil-painting medium.

Regalrez 1094 is a low-molecular-weight hydrogenated hydrocarbon resin. One reason it attracted considerable interest in conservation…

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Hi!

Are there any studies on the use of Regalrez in painting mediums?

Thanks, George. I am going to try some of the Paint Laboratory and have them color match it. I have used the other metallics such as Krylon, and they are shinier than I am looking for. I will let you know how it goes.

Ann

Ann, there are several workable ways to produce a metallic gold frame without using genuine gold leaf, but the products you listed are not really equivalent. The important distinction is between metallic pigment suspended in a binder and a coating that merely has a gold-colored or pearlescent appearance.

The Schmincke product is what…

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Thanks! I’ll look into that!

I painted some wood pieces with these products: White Rust-oleum Painter’s Touch Primer 2X Ultracover then, Rust-oleum Metallic Gold Bright Shiny Finish. I painted wood filigree cut outs. They turned out very nice for my project.

I am making 8 large frames, and they need to be metallic, but not gilded with real gold. I am not sure what paint would be best to use – or something I should just look for to avoid?

1. Some of that Schminke oil based gold powder

https://www.schmincke.de/en/products/pigments-and-bronzes/bronzes

2. Gold interior…

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April, I’m not sure which session Leigh is referring to, but the issue is the amount and type of oil that can transfer from the brush back into the paint layer.

If you rinse brushes during a painting session and then immediately return to painting, use a drying oil suitable for painting, and wipe the brush thoroughly before loading it with paint.…

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Excellent information thank you.

can you link to what discussion that is? I rinse my brushes in safflower oil that I get from Safeway. Also George what soap do you recommend? I was using Fels laundry soap until they put fragrance in it, now am using some similar soap (Grandma’s?)

You definitely do not want to use “boiled linseed oil” to rinse brushes. This is linseed oil with driers. You can use drying oils during painting sessions and non-drying oils between sessions, when you can wash the non-drying oil out with soap and water. Non-drying oils, such as vegetable oils you buy at the grocery store or supermarket,…

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Recently I listened to a session where George mentioned what cleaning brushes in safflower or walnut may do to paint layers. I do squeeze out as much of the safflower oil that I can before using refined linseed to continue painting, sometimes bodied oil to help prevent sinking in. I have a jug of boiled linseed from the hardware store and ask…

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I’ve been interested in Mantegna’s distemper technique for a long time, and I’m finally getting close to trying a reconstruction. I’d be very interested in hearing from anyone with experience in historical distemper, particularly about not simply how the paint was made, but how one might actually achieve some of the particular visual…

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Thanks

The next Cohorts is September 26. Please see the updated Cohorts page. You can always find the latest information on your dashboard.

When is the next scheduled meeting, please?

On the Cohorts link it still has the August 1st ‘Earth Pigments in Practice’ meeting listed.

Thanks

Great question as I too avoid alkyds/solvents. I’ll definitely do what George has suggested in his answer to your question.

Thanks George. I appreciate the info. I am trying to avoid an oil alkyd primer if I can, because I tried one and had an instant headache the moment I took the lid off. I am trying to find a sustainable way of working that avoids—or at least minimizes–sinking in.

Yes, you can continue using a thin couch of Oleogel for subsequent layers. The presence of a small amount of bodied oil in the imprimatura does not, by itself, make that layering method structurally unsound. Allow the imprimatura to dry thoroughly, apply only a very thin couch of Oleogel, and paint into it while wet. Avoid leaving an…

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Hello,

I have just finished watching the recording about sinking in, and I am interested in the idea of adding a bit of bodied oil to the imprimatura. I’d like to make sure that I understand what this means for subsequent layers, though. Typically, I add a thin couch of oleogel onto a dry layer and then work into it to create the next layer. …

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Thank you George. I will keep searching.

Kind regards,

Richard

The Cohorts sessions are all there on the Cohorts page, and links to the Technical Studio Sessions are all on the Technical Studio Sessions page.

Are replays of the sessions available? If so, I haven’t been successful in locating them. Thank you very much for your help.

Kind regards,

Richard

Audrey, artists have certainly reused supports throughout history—by painting over failed compositions, using the reverse of a support, joining pieces, and mounting canvas or paper to rigid supports. The general practice of adhering canvas to a wall or panel is called marouflage and has been documented since at least the seventeenth century.…

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Thank you for this clarifying response with regards to substrate preparation. To your knowledge, are there any artists in the past who have mounted canvas over finished (failed) paintings, and if so, what was the result? It can’t have been my idea, surely someone has done it before. Besides the lack of adhesion of the mounting adhesive, what…

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Yes, April. When using Rublev Colours Mounting Adhesive on a wood panel, my preferred method is to mount the prepared canvas directly to the clean, unprimed wood face. The back and sides—not the mounting face—can be coated with polyurethane to reduce moisture exchange.

However, acrylic gesso is porous and is not equivalent to sealing the panel…

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