Polyvinyl acetate tempera is a highly dispersed pasty water-based mixture of synthetic resin, stabilizers and structuring agents. This type of tempera differs from oil-breech and egg tempera in a number of properties.

Polyvinyl acetate tempera paints are transparent, elastic and can be applied both pasty and glazing.

Painting with synthetic tempera - maybe multi-layered, each new layer is superimposed on the dried previous one without fear of peeling paints.

Distinctive feature tempera is its rapid drying: after 1 - 2 hours in thin layers and 3-4 hours in pasty ones.

Polyvinyl acetate tempera, which is itself water-soluble, must not be mixed with other water-soluble paints. So, in a mixture with oil-casein tempera, the paints curdle and are poorly spread over the surface of the picturesque base.

The thinner of paints is water, but after drying, they can be dissolved only with a special wash, which is a mixture of ethyl acetate with a solution of ethyl alcohol, taken in a ratio of 1: 1.

In the process of working, the paints, although they contain up to 50% water, should be squeezed out of the tubes into rings of wet cotton wool to retain moisture in them. Polyvinyl acetate tempera paints dry quickly. This requires certain skills from the painter.

Brushes must be kept in a jar of water during work, after work they should be thoroughly rinsed with water. If the paint dries on the brushes, they are washed with a wash or 70-75% ethyl alcohol.

You can work with polyvinyl acetate tempera on a variety of surfaces: on canvas with synthetic and emulsion (oil-adhesive) primers, on paper, cardboard, wood, plaster, concrete, linoxin linoleum, glass and many other surfaces, i.e. these paints are universal pictorial material, especially in arts and crafts and design art.

Drying, some paints change somewhat in hue:

Lighten slightly: chromium oxide and burnt oxide.

Significantly lighter: cobalt blue and ocher.

Slightly darker: cadmium yellow and red, light ocher and burnt sienna. At the same time, light ocher and burnt sienna, applied to paper, darken significantly, and then the degree of their darkening decreases.

They darken more noticeably: English red, caput-mortuum, burnt umber and red kraplak.

Strongly darken: natural sienna, emerald green and ultramarine (in the hull layer).

The surface of polyvinyl acetate painting is matte. To obtain a surface saturated in color, the painting is covered with one of the top coats, such as dammar, acrylic pistachio and others. By diluting the varnish with pinene, you can get a different degree of gloss painting. The most favorable dilution of varnish in a ratio of 1:1. The painting, covered with varnish, acquires depth and color saturation, but at the same time, with the deepening of the tone of the colors, the painting seems darker.

Paints should be stored at room temperature, and not below 0 degrees. Warranty period of storage of paints - 1 year. The number of stars indicates the degree of lightfastness of the paint: three stars - high lightfastness, two stars - medium, one star - low lightfastness.

When paint is applied to the base, elastic films are formed. To wash off the dried paint coating, a mixture of ethyl acetate with aqueous ethyl alcohol is used. Polyvinyl acetate paints cannot be mixed with casein-oil tempera while working, which artists often do when there is a lack of any colors in certain paints.

Modern tempera can compete in strength with ancient tempera and oil painting, and its properties and capabilities are well suited to the requirements of various types of modern visual arts.

In addition to the types of tempera listed above, which are the most common, there are also wax and gum tempera. However, the composition of the binders of these paints includes rarer substances and their preparation is much more difficult.

The following dyes are most often used in the preparation of tempera:

white - lead, zinc, titanium white;

yellow - yellow ocher, natural sienna, mars yellow, mars orange, cadmium yellow, cadmium orange, aureolin, strontium yellow, yellow buckthorn varnish;

red - natural and artificial cinnabar (pink, red and cherry), cadmium red, English red, mars red, natural carmine, natural kraplak;

violet - mars violet, cobalt violet, violet varnishes from blackberries, blackberries;

green - emerald green, chromium oxide, earth green, volkonskoite, glauconite green, cobalt green, buckthorn green varnishes;

blue - natural and artificial ultramarine, cobalt blue, mountain blue, Prussian blue, indigo;

brown - mars brown, brown alder bark varnish, earth browns, burnt ocher, burnt sienna, Van Dyck brown;

black - grape black, Frankfurt black, burnt ivory, wood black, stone fruit black from pits of cherries, apricots, peaches.

Wax-oil tempera

In the modernized tempera, PVA emulsion and casein-oil emulsion are used as a binder (which has greater strength due to the content of oil and resin in the composition).

Casein tempera hardens quickly, becoming insoluble in water, has good adhesion to the material it is applied to (wood, canvas, metal, stone and glass), but cracks over time.

The paint made on the basis of PVA emulsion and pigment is called PVA tempera. It is mainly used for outdoor wall painting and decoration painting. The main disadvantage of PVA tempera is its low light fastness.

Encaustic paints are paints made by mixing pigment with wax, resin and oil. The history of these colors goes back to ancient times. In Egypt, they were used to paint tombs and mummies. In Greece, wax paints were known to ancient artists, but, unfortunately, none of the works have survived to our time, only a mention in literary sources remains.

What is wax oil tempera?

Wax-oil tempera is the new kind paints with unique qualities, combining the properties of encaustic, oil and watercolor paints. They are made on the basis of high-quality pigments, the binder for which is a complex composition of vegetable oil, distilled water, natural beeswax, soft resin and other components. Paints are easy to use due to their pastosity and spreadability.

The uniqueness of wax-oil tempera lies in the fact that these are transparent paints that allow you to create complex colors and shades and obtain a three-dimensional image by applying one color to another. Wax and soft resin in the composition of the binder provide a longer mobility of paints compared to casein-oil, polyvinyl acetate and acrylic tempera.

When dried, wax-oil tempera is insoluble in water, has increased resistance to external influences of the surrounding aggressive environment, does not change in tones over time compared to oil painting, and forms a matte surface.

The drying speed of wax-oil tempera paints is somewhat higher compared to oil ones due to the content of wax in the composition. However, thanks to the wax, the paints do not change tone when dried and mix well with others. art materials both oil and water based. You can speed up the drying of tempera by adding it to a non-desiccating agent.

Similar information.

In teaching painting, we adhere to the principle that working with each material is able to teach and reveal to the student its own distinct properties. Ours includes assignments for all basic painting materials. But we suggest starting with still life in tempera best paint for learning.

It makes sense to start learning with tempera paints for the following reasons:

• This is the easiest and most versatile material to study;
• It has many properties that are convenient for the initial learning of painting;
• A wide variety of colors are available;

What are tempera paints.

concept "Tempera" represents the principle of creating a paint material, not the actual name of the paint.

When they say that tempera is the most ancient material for painting and was used even by the Egyptians when painting sarcophagi (3600 BC), this does not mean that the ancient Egyptian artists painted their monumental works using paints from tubes, otherwise, that the process of creating colors and the method of painting was the same as now, and has not changed for thousands of years. Only the original ingredients have changed.

Tempera technique is a mixture of colorful pigment with a binder. Therefore, the Italian word tempera comes from the Latin temperare, What means "to mix". The binder is a natural or artificial emulsion. The emulsion, in turn, consists, in most cases, of two or three immiscible liquids, for example: water - oil - glue. To obtain tempera paints, natural emulsions were previously used: milk, yolk, tree and plant sap.

Currently, two types of tempera paints are widely used, these are PVA tempera and wax-oil tempera, casein-oil tempera is less common.

Tempera PVA (polyvinyl acetate)

The most popular and widespread type of tempera paints is tempera PVA. The composition of this paint includes a mixture of PVA emulsion, synthetic resin, stabilizers and pigment.
This paint has a number of distinctive properties that make it convenient for teaching painting.
Universal Scenic Layer Thickness. In the process of learning, you need to try various techniques for applying paint, these can be transparent glazes or dense, even backgrounds and, of course, voluminous, almost embossed strokes. Unlike other types, PVA tempera allows you to work in any of the above techniques, combine a variety of techniques in one work without losing properties.

You can rewrite the same place. This is a very handy feature for both beginners and experienced artists. In the work on a painting, there are often complex stages and difficult details that cannot be done the first time. Polyvinyl acetate tempera is ideal for such occasions. Easily overlaps, does not blur or peel off the previous layer, does not roll or deform the base. Other paints, especially watercolor, practically do not make it possible to rewrite individual fragments many times.
Any base. PVA tempera can be written on almost any dry and clean surface. In addition to classic primed canvases, tempera fits perfectly on all kinds of paper, thick cardboard, glued hardboard, plasters, concrete, wood, glass, and laminated surfaces. It adheres firmly to all surfaces and does not lose its visual properties, which is very important in arts and crafts.

Wax oil tempera.

Wax-oil tempera is next in popularity and ease of use. This paint has the most complex composition. In addition to high-quality pigments, it includes certain compositions of vegetable oils, distilled water, natural beeswax, resin and a number of additives and additions.
Due to such a complex composition, wax-oil tempera has amazing pictorial properties. Juicy, bright colors, when superimposed on each other, form spectacular color combinations, in each color you can feel the rich depth and texture of the paint. The presence of wax and resin preserve the mobility and elasticity of the paint, thanks to which it is possible to rewrite or complete individual fragments.
An important feature of wax-oil tempera is that after drying, the color of the paints does not change, retains the greatest saturation and tone compared to other water-soluble paints (with gouache), tolerates external influences, such as bright light, air humidity.

Casein oil tempera.

Last on the list is casein oil tempera, the most whimsical and demanding type of tempera.
This is a water-soluble paint, where as the main binder is casein, obtained from cow's milk in the process of distillation and separation. Also, the composition of the paint includes bleached linseed oil and an antiseptic phenol, which protects the paint from premature molding.
A feature of this type tempera paint is that specially prepared bases, primed canvases, cardboards, and special paper. It is better to avoid saturated volume strokes of large thickness; when dried, these places may crack or even peel off. Very great importance for the properties of casein-oil tempera has a release date. The shelf life of this type of tempera is 6 months, after this time the pigment begins to coagulate and the emulsion begins to separate, sometimes manufacturers warn about this, but in very small print.
It is better not to work with expired paint, after drying the paint layer peels off, lumps, flaking are formed, and this process occurs differently for different colors.

Pros and cons of tempera paints.

In the process of art education, preparation for universities, when creating your own decorative works, the main, extremely useful properties of tempera paints appear, and some features are revealed, knowing about which you can avoid them.
The advantages include fast drying, sometimes it is very important for subsequent processing or transportation, those who have come across oil paints will understand what is meant; opportunity to apply different types letters, from juicy pasty strokes to thin glazes, you can prescribe the same place several times without waiting for the bottom layer to dry completely. After drying, tempera form hard, water-insoluble layer and adheres firmly to the surface. Tempera tolerates changes in temperature, humidity and being under bright light better than other painterly colors.

An important feature when working with tempera paints, especially PVA tempera: you should keep the brushes in a jar of water so that the paint residue does not dry out and spoil the brush. If the brush is still dry, then you can hold it in a 70-75% solution of ethyl alcohol.
In one still life, it is better not to use or mix different types of tempera paints in order to avoid folding or delamination.

Regardless of the type of tempera, after complete drying, the work can be varnished. This will return the saturated color to the paints, and also protect the surface of the painting from mechanical damage and premature fading of the paints.

We recommend that you start painting with tempera, even if you have never tried working with this paint before. On ours, we will be happy to help you understand, master and make the first creative work.
For more information about classes, please call: 8 903 669-80-89 And 8 903 669-49-59 , or email us: [email protected]

Tempera paints are considered the most ancient. Where and when did this ancient type of painting originate, in what types of fine arts did it become widespread and how is it used in modern times. The article will discuss what tempera is, what it is made of and what types exist.

Tempera: definition, history

In the visual arts, there are many types of paints. What is tempera? Translated from Latin, the word temperare means "to connect, mix." Tempera is both a type of painting and paint, obtained by mixing a dry coloring pigment with a binder emulsion.

Tempera paints are the oldest coloring matter in history. Even more than three thousand years ago, ancient Egyptian artists painted the walls of tombs and sarcophagi with it. Tempera paints were widely used in icon painting. Famous ancient Russian icon painters of the 14th-15th centuries, such as Theophanes the Greek and Andrei Rublev, painted their creations in the traditional tempera technique. The faces of the saints were depicted on primed boards, which were then covered with a layer of varnish or drying oil. Since the 15th century in Europe and since the 18th century in Russia, tempera painting has been gradually replacing oil painting. However, at the beginning of the 20th century, this type of painting is gaining popularity again, it is widely used both in painting and in arts and crafts.

Composition, types

By and large, it should be noted that tempera is a special way of creating a coloring material, and not the paint itself. The main components of the paint are dry powders of natural or artificial pigments and emulsion binders. The composition of the binder emulsion may include: casein glue, chicken egg, gum arabic, dextrin glue, soap solution. Natural tempera is a paint that the artist himself makes, using natural ingredients to dilute it: chicken egg yolk, water, or some other preservative (for example, vinegar, wine). Natural tempera is mainly used in icon painting: thanks to it, a deep, saturated color is obtained, the effect of glaze on majolica. contemporary artists more and more people use tempera based on substances of synthetic origin (glue, oils, polymers). Depending on what substance is the main one in the composition of the binder emulsion, tempera paints are divided into 3 types:

• egg;
• wax-casein-oil;

egg tempera

This type of tempera was widely used by medieval Renaissance painters, as well as Russian icon painters of the 15th-16th centuries. Both a whole chicken egg and its parts: protein or yolk were added to egg tempera. Yolk-based paint has gained particular popularity. It was he who was mixed with water, varnish, oil, wax and other components. Egg-water and egg-lacquer tempera were widely used in their work by Palekh masters when painting miniatures and icons. The main components of the binder in egg tempera are chicken yolk, pictorial and turpentine varnishes. Previously, Italian painters added grated tops from fig tree branches or a mixture of wine and water to egg tempera, German painters - beer, Russian icon painters - bread kvass. Nowadays, modern icon painters working in the old technique add apple or table vinegar as a preservative to yolk tempera.

PVA, wax-oil and casein tempera paints

Casein paints are water-borne pigments, the main component of which is casein (a protein of milk origin). It also contains linseed oil and phenolic resin. This type of tempera is applied only on a special basis: primed canvases, planks, thick paper.

Wax-oil tempera, in addition to pigment, includes wax, vegetable oils, resins and other additives. It is diluted with any industrial solvents, such as white spirit, pinene, turpentine, as well as fatty vegetable oils, drying oil. When diluted with water, you can work as a watercolor.

Cons: takes a long time to dry.

Advantages: bright, juicy palette when applied, mixes well with oil paints. Many artists know that such a tempera darkens after drying, but if gouache is used instead of white, the color becomes lighter.

PVA tempera. What's happened? It is based on a mixture of synthetic resins, stabilizers, structurants. It is the most popular in recent times, as it is used in almost all paint application techniques and fits perfectly on any dry and hard surface.

The main advantages of tempera paint

The main advantage of this paint is fast drying, strength and durability. The dried layer of paint adheres reliably to the work surface, it cannot be dissolved even with water. This property of the paint is indispensable, for example, during transportation or further processing of the finished canvas. It works great with whites. The peculiarity of tempera is that it can be written in various techniques: apply thinly or create thick pasty writing. Can be poured on any surface: wooden, paper, canvas, using in the work different kinds and brush shapes. The symbiosis of glue and oil contained in the paint contributes to the fact that on the working canvas it turns out to be elastic, shiny and does not crack. The color of tempera paints, unlike oil paints, changes upon drying, becoming more matte. To obtain a glossy surface, various varnishes are used, for example, dammar, mastic or drying oil. Another difference between tempera and oil paints is their durability and resistance to external influences.

Paint made on the basis of an emulsion binder of various origins (natural or artificial) and pigment has long been called tempera (it. tempera, from temperare - to mix paints; fr. detrempe). Basic requirements for tempera paints:

• high pastosity, i.e. plastic flowing consistency
• free pick-up on the brush and easy spreading on the foundation
• elasticity, the ability not to crack after drying
• high degree of grinding to avoid foreign inclusions and visible pigment particles in reflected light
• good adhesion

HISTORY OF TEMPERA

Prior to the improvement of oil paints by J. Van Eyck (XV century), the medieval egg tempera was one of the most popular and widespread types of painting in Europe, but since that time, it has gradually lost its significance, and little by little interest in it has completely disappeared. dries up everywhere. The only exceptions are our country and Greece, where, along with the latest methods of painting, this ancient technique is currently being used. In Greece it is used for church painting, but in our country it is used for various artistic purposes, and painting acquires a stylized ornamental character, which testifies once again that the style of painting is largely due to its technique.

Until the 15th century, tempera was the most common medium for painting. In Russia, egg tempera was used in icon painting, wall painting, as well as in folk crafts (Palekh, Mstera, etc.). In its manufacture, chicken yolk was used as the main binder. The pigment was triturated in an emulsion of yolk with water, adding kvass, vinegar or wine. The paints obtained in this way did not allow working in the impasto painting technique, so they were applied gradually, in layers and in a certain order. Drying, they lightened somewhat in tone, and a matte surface was obtained. The basis for painting was wooden boards, primed with a layer of gesso. After completion of the work, the entire surface was covered with a thin film of drying oil or oil varnish. Egg tempera is still used in icon painting.

Tempera paints were widely used in Russia in wall painting. Many Russian churches in Moscow, Kostroma, Yaroslavl and other cities were painted with them in the 15th-17th centuries. Egg tempera (based on yolk) and casein tempera were considered the best. The paints were made in small volumes, as the binder must be fresh. Often the paint was prepared on a whole egg, i.e. both yolk and albumen were used as a binder. This tempera was inferior to egg tempera in density, but was suitable for frescoes. It was also used for retouching frescoes.

In the second half of the 19th century, the disillusionment that came with later oil painting initiated a search for new binders for paints, and the forgotten tempera, whose well-preserved works eloquently speak for themselves, arouses interest again. But the obsolete technique could no longer fully satisfy the demands of later artists, and therefore significant modifications are introduced into it: from tempera with natural emulsion, it is transformed into tempera with artificial emulsion. Tempera in this updated and modified form soon gains a strong position for itself and quickly spreads in Europe.

In Russian art, unfortunately, the new tempera has not yet been given due importance. Our schools of painting, ignoring the technique of painting, educated their students routinely - exclusively on oil painting.

It is not surprising, therefore, that the new types of painting technique that arose in the West did not receive proper application and development among us, and that the appearance of works performed by one or another method of painting, which was established in the West, was due to our painters simply by chance. And here it was not without misunderstandings: for example, tempera paints were often painted with us like gouache! In this case, only factory-made paints were used, which in most cases belong to the gum arabic tempera, that is, they belong to the worst type of tempera. For Russian artists, the latest tempera is thus a little-used technique. Meanwhile, it has very serious advantages and in many respects great advantages over ordinary oil painting and, moreover, it best meets the needs of painting of our time.

VARIETIES OF TEMPERA

egg tempera

The binder of egg tempera is an artificial emulsion, which includes egg, oil and oil or turpentine varnish.

There are many recipes for this kind of tempera, and the possibility of compiling new recipes is, one might say, unlimited; it is enough only when compiling them to observe a certain regularity in the proportion of substances that make up the tempera.

The yolk of an egg and a whole egg are able to emulsify an equal volume of oil and a much smaller amount of varnish. Such a proportion for oil and varnish in relation to the egg is the maximum for the emulsion.

In practice, therefore, it is recommended to take them in a slightly smaller amount, since with an excess of oil, and even more so varnish as a substance more alien to the egg, the emulsion can more easily break up. In addition, too “fat” tempera approaches oil painting in its properties and therefore begins to acquire the disadvantages of the latter - the ability to turn yellow and darken, while at the same time not having the advantages of oil painting - the long mobility of its colors.

Casein tempera

Casein solutions, obtained in one way or another, form emulsions with oil and resins, which not only are not inferior in quality to the egg emulsions described above, but in many respects surpass them.

Casein solutions for emulsification are obtained from dry casein powder using borax, soda, ammonium carbonate, sodium phosphate, sodium hydroxide, caustic potash, and finally caustic lime. Casein in the form of cottage cheese also gives solutions, but its dosage is difficult.

The most appropriate casein solvents are: borax, soda, ammonium carbonate and sodium phosphate.

Like an egg, casein solution, which has the same consistency as an egg, emulsifies an equal volume of oil and a smaller amount of varnish.

Such a relationship of these components of the emulsion is a well-known norm, which should not be left when compiling recipes for casein tempera.

Gum arabic tempera

In addition to egg and casein, which are best material for the preparation of tempera, they also use vegetable glue for this purpose, mainly gum arabic, dextrin and cherry, as well as glue and other fruit trees.

This tempera is much inferior in quality to egg and casein tempera, but due to its inherent lightness of tone, some artists like it. It has a low adhesion ability, so it does not stick to oily soil and rolls off it. In the gum arabic tempera, the paints are devoid of a paste similar to egg and casein tempera paste, and therefore they are not suitable for pasty painting, since, moreover, they easily crack. Gum arabic tempera, on the other hand, does not deteriorate as quickly as egg tempera, which is why it is popular in the factory production of paints.

Gum arabic solution and in general a solution of vegetable glue has a weak emulsifying power and therefore, when compiling an emulsion, no more than 1/2 - 1/3 of the volume of oil is taken per 1 volume of gum arabic solution. It is useful to introduce a small amount (1/12-1/15 part of the volume) of glycerin into this emulsion.

MODERN TEMPERA

The binder of modern tempera consists of an artificial emulsion.

The time of discovery of this new paint substance, which gained such popularity in modern painting, is currently difficult to reconstruct with precision. In any case, an artificial emulsion consisting of butter and egg was already known in the Middle Ages, but it was used only for medical and cosmetic purposes. There is also evidence that in the Middle Ages in Spain they used an emulsion in painting, consisting of a solution of casein and oil. Vasari, speaking of tempera, reports that the artist Baldovinetti painted with tempera, which consisted of egg yolk with oil varnish, but immediately adds that the tempera of this composition was not in general use. All these historical data clearly indicate that modern tempera originated in remote times, but at the same time it did not receive due appreciation and development in its time. The development of tempera with artificial emulsion is observed only at the latest time.

The success of modern tempera cannot be explained by the dissatisfaction and weariness towards oil seen in later painters alone; on the contrary, it is a consequence of its undoubted merits, before which oil painting, which is common in our time, succumbs.

Drawing a parallel between medieval and modern tempera, it is impossible not to notice that all the advantages will be on the side of the latter. The binder of modern tempera (in its best forms) has greater strength than that of the same old tempera, since it contains, in addition to egg or casein, oils and resins. Painting made with yolk tempera needs varnish to fix its colors, since it can dissolve with water for a long time, while modern tempera, which includes oils that dry out quickly, becomes insoluble in the very short term and therefore does not need varnish if the latter is of no interest to the artist. The technique of medieval yolk tempera, intended mainly for easel painting with its watery colors and special techniques, is too outdated for our time and can hardly satisfy any of the modern painters, while the new tempera, due to its composition, does not need special techniques, giving the painter complete freedom in this respect and fully corresponds to the modern manner painting.

Paint made based on PVA emulsion and pigment, received the name tempera PVA. It is mainly used for outdoor wall painting and decoration painting. The main disadvantage of PVA tempera is its low light fastness.

WAX-BUT TEMPERA

Wax-oil tempera is a new type of paint with unique qualities that combines the properties of encaustic, oil and watercolor paints. They are made on the basis of high-quality pigments, the binder for which is a complex composition of vegetable oil, distilled water, natural beeswax, soft resin and other components. Paints are easy to use due to their pastosity and spreadability.

The uniqueness of wax-oil tempera lies in the fact that these are transparent paints that allow you to create complex colors and shades and obtain a three-dimensional image by applying one color to another. Wax and soft resin in the composition of the binder provide a longer mobility of paints compared to casein-oil, polyvinyl acetate and acrylic tempera.

When dried, wax-oil tempera is insoluble in water, has increased resistance to external influences of the surrounding aggressive environment, does not change in tones over time compared to oil painting, and forms a matte surface.

The drying speed of wax-oil tempera paints is somewhat higher compared to oil ones due to the content of wax in the composition. However, thanks to the wax, the paints do not change tone when dry and mix well with other art materials, both oil-based and water-based. You can speed up the drying of tempera by adding a desiccant to it.

Thinners and auxiliaries

Tempera paints are well diluted with water and combined with other water-based paints such as watercolors, gouache, all kinds of tempera and acrylic paints. When diluting wax-oil tempera with water, it can be used as a watercolor. At the same time, the paints have high glazing properties and allow achieving expressive color effects.

Wax-oil tempera is diluted with pinene, turpentine, white spirit and fatty vegetable oils, and mixes well with oil paints. To obtain a matte surface, organic thinners (white spirit, turpentine or water) are used. To get a glossy surface, use shiny paint varnishes (damar, mastic) or linseed oil. When mixing wax-oil tempera with varnishes, the drying time of the paint is reduced.

WORK WITH WAX-BUT TEMPERA

The properties of tempera allow it to be used in various techniques and areas of fine art. As a basis, you can use any primed material - wood (primer - gesso), canvas, cardboard, paper without primer, hardboard, plaster. Wax-oil tempera gained great popularity in wall painting during the restoration of temples. When painting walls and domes, for the greatest coloristic effect, the artists slightly warm up the tempera paints. If the paint has already been applied, for a stronger connection with the wall, the picturesque surface can be slightly warmed up with a blowtorch. In the work, you can use all types of brushes: from the most sensitive - thin squirrel and kolinsky - to coarse bristle. In the pasty technique, spatulas or palette knives are used. Naturally, the thicker the layer of paint, the longer it dries. Wax-oil tempera is produced in tubes of 33 ml, the palette, which includes paints made on organic and inorganic pigments, consists of 47 colors. On sale there are sets of wax-oil tempera 12 and 9 colors. The kit was completed with the recommendations of professional artists.

Here are some responses from artists using oil-wax tempera.

Ermakova Natalya Petrovna, artist, employee of the Donskoy Monastery, in 1998 painted a large fresco "The Holy Spirit" (1.5x1.5 m) under the dome in a small church on Prospekt Mira (Moscow):

The work was carried out in a dry room on acrylic putty. The fresco is made in thin layers. Pinene was used as a thinner, which reduced the drying time of the paint to 1.5 hours. They wrote with squirrel and kolinsky brushes, for washing which the same pinene was used. The fresco was not varnished, but when, three weeks after completion, the painting was wiped with a woolen cloth, the painting acquired a special luster. As the artist notes, the paints are very convenient, they are well picked up on a brush, mixed with each other, the palette is especially well chosen.

Kirillov Mikhail Olegovich, artist, warden of the Cathedral of the Intercession of the Virgin (Moscow):

In 1999, on the recommendation of the professor of restoration and painting technology V.V. Filatova painted towels - ornamental belts, restored from fragments of the 17th century. The painting was carried out in a damp room on the old plaster of 25-30 years ago. Getting to work, the artist first went through lime plaster with drying oil, heated to approximately 70-80 ° C. Further, the walls were primed with conventional building titanium white(in order to save money) in a mixture with a soap maker (preparation method: 3 liters of water were mixed with 2/3 of a piece of 72% laundry soap, previously grated, all this was mixed until a liquid soap solution was obtained). Then wax-oil tempera was used. As a diluent, turpentine was added with water in a ratio of 1:1 until the consistency of sour cream was obtained.

The main disadvantage of wax-oil tempera, noted by the artist, is a long drying time, however, as it turned out, the paint has good adhesion. In 2000, the painted wall was completely flooded with water as a result of an accident in the heating system. After the consequences of the accident were eliminated, the paints did not lose their color qualities and retained excellent adhesion to the ground. They also withstood another test, when construction workers negligently splashed the painting with a plaster solution and removed it with spatulas, the painting was preserved in its original form.

Based on an article from the magazine "Artistic Council" 5 (45) 2005

ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF MODERN TEMPERA

Positive properties of tempera

1. In contrast to oil painting and old tempera, the new tempera does not require a specific system for painting from the painter, giving him complete freedom in this respect, which he can use without any damage to the strength of the painting.
2. Tempera paints covered with varnish are superior in beauty to those of ordinary oil painting.
3. Tempera painting, executed with paints not weighed down with excess oil, does not darken, does not turn yellow, and does not change its tone at all over time.
4. The drying process of tempera paints is quite different from the drying process of oil paints. Tempera paints decrease in volume only in the first period of their drying, remaining unchanged in the future, while in oil painting the change in the volume of the paint layer continues indefinitely, which adversely affects the strength of the painting.

Disadvantages of tempera

1. Quick drying paint
2. Change in tone when paint dries

So, the positive properties of tempera exceed its negative properties. Its shortcomings, moreover, are conditional. Of course, fast-drying paints make painting difficult, but in modern painting, with its inherent impressionism, the transfer of forms is practiced with a brushstroke, stroke, etc. Thus, the new tempera not only corresponds to the style of modern painting, but, one can safely say, was created for it.

Tempera is not only a term for paint, but also a special painting technique that has been known almost from the very beginning. creative activity person. Nowadays, the term tempera is limited only to paint, which includes binder emulsions (water suspensions in oil or oil in water).

Of course, oil and water, in principle, do not give any connection, so the presence of emulsifiers is necessary - various mixtures, including those of natural origin. It should be recognized that it occupies an intermediate position between and, and the results obtained with its help are also characterized by the above methods. It is very important that you can paint with tempera as a marker on various surfaces. This paint can also be used in easel or polychrome painting and painting on walls. It is worth remembering that the tempera technique is not limited to egg tempera, to which most of us refer this type of paint, there are many methods for creating tempera, and their name depends on the binder:

• egg tempera
• tempera oily
• casein tempera
• resin tempera etc.

In fact, the choice of binder type depends on whether you need to approach visual effects oils or watercolors. It's also worth remembering that if you add water to egg tempera to thin it out, it's easy to get a transparent layer similar to a watercolor effect. When we are dealing with oily tempera, we will get a result similar to oil. In addition, it is sometimes difficult to distinguish tempera from oil, especially when the finished work is covered with an additional layer of varnish. Emulsion binders that are used in the preparation of tempera paint have an unlimited number of combinations and methods for their preparation. There are some hard recipes, but the composition of the tempera to a large extent, in addition to the binder, determines the way and technique of painting.

At present, we cannot give a clear definition of this or that tempera, and there are only a few properties that distinguish methods of creating paint from each other and are specific to different types, which largely depend on the glue used in them.

The technique of writing works in tempera is characterized by:

• Exquisite lines
• Hatch (bar) way of painting
• Painting by glaze or coating method
• Inability to draw wet-on-wet (peeling of the paint, due to the limited power of the binder)
• Very fast drying
• No tonal changes caused by the passage of time
• Lack of moisture resistance

• After drying, the paint remains flexible - this prevents cracking

Tempera painting technique is an extremely complex process that gives good results in the final. Regardless of the type of tempera (which emulsion is used), there are three types of painting:

Underpainting- a system of painting, consisting of the gradual application of light and shadow to the picture (and sometimes vice versa). When using this method, tempera has appearance similar to oil paint, but more intense and less dull looking. Casein tempera is best suited for underpainting. This is because in order to varnish the finished work, the paint must have a strong binder. In addition to the base, emulsions should also be applied in accordance with the painting technique, a greasy solution with low absorbency. It is worth noting that in tempera painting, unlike oil painting, the painting is varnished to protect it from moisture. Keep in mind that the layer of varnish should not be too thick, because you can darken the picture, and it can also emphasize all the inequalities of the picture.

Lazuli- a technique reminiscent of the way of working with watercolor. It is based on the creation of paintings using transparent tones that are applied layer by layer. Paintings made in tempera using the lapis lazuli technique differ significantly from works created using the underpainting method. In this case, all types of emulsions that are soluble in water can be used, given that both the support and the solution must be absorbent. The absorbing property of the latter will allow you to securely fix the lower layers of paint. This painting method can be technologically used both to achieve the glaze effect and to create opaque layers. This technique is used mainly in the decoration of walls, posters, designs and sketches.

Underpainting-lazure, mixed (combined) technique - this is the most common way of painting with tempera. It combines the two previous methods of painting. The first application is carried out with an opaque layer of paint, while the remaining tones of the image are complemented by glazed or translucent layers. Here it is worth recalling an old principle that takes care of the aesthetics of work - a place with warm colors the earth should be cold - and vice versa. This interesting technique, which relies on a combination within the tempera paint of the underpainting of the painting and the final finish of the painting. It is worth remembering that this technique is far from new, even though its second revival took place in the twentieth century, but the first mention of it is in records dating back to the fifteenth century. A mixture of the two techniques provides a number of interesting possibilities. The first layer of tempera should be applied relatively quickly, and it dries quickly, which cannot be afforded when working with oil.

Of course, the issue of quick drying paint is also negative trait. On the one hand, this enables a fast creative process, on the other hand, it makes it impossible to make several stages of work on a painting. However, there is a way to slow down the drying process - just add a small amount of glycerin, sugar or honey. Note, however, that if too many of these substances are added, they can cause a degradation process to develop.

Tempera dries in a certain way, usually without a sheen. Drying tone change is one of the difficulties in tempera painting, so you must pre-set dark tones or use a binder that does not dissolve in water.

Best results are obtained with glaze, a thin layer of topcoat paint. This method is difficult to perform, and only becomes stable and weather resistant when the adhesive and grout are properly prepared. The canvas for this technique can be almost any substrate, not necessarily wood, which was the oldest and most used type of canvas.