In this entry I will document my method for basing a wood board in preparation for egg tempera.

(1) I start the proses by mixing 1 part rabbit skin glue granules with 10 parts water. I leave this to sit for about half an hour before moving on to the next step.






(2) After leaving the mixture to sit I place it in a pan of simmering water and continually mix with a spoon, making sure to clean the granules  that will inevitably stick to the spoon

(3) When the mixture becomes a creamy paste take it out of the water and test to see if it has the right consistency (this can be done by dipping two fingers in to the liquid, waiting for them to dry and see if your fingers stick together while still being able to pull them apart easily).

 (4) spread a single layer of this paste on to your wood board and wait for it to dry.

(5) add a large amount of Gesso Powder in to the glue and mix thoroughly until all powder disappears.

(5) Spread 4-3 coats on to the wood board. Make sure to keep your brush from getting dry since this can lead to pealing. After applying the coats leave to dry. There is the option of sanding down the board once it is dry but I prefer the rough texture of a non sanded board.

I wanted this poste to demonstrate my thought process for one of my latest paintings from beginning to end.
I start by practising my composition, I do this by pausing films and TV series at interesting moments and copying the screen lay out, The two examples of this that are displayed to the right. They are both painted on A4 bread and butter paper with oil colours and depict a scene from the animated show "Ping Pong".
The change in composition between the two practice pieces are taken

over a gap of 2 seconds and record's the zoom out of the frame. I also wanted to practice colour mixing since I am not as accustomed to mixing with oils, the frames I chose are purposefully quite light and washed out since I struggle with mixing subtle colours. I created a grey scale and a yellow to wight scale and merged the two to find the shade of grey and yellow that best reflects the images I was studying. after creating this base colour for the back drop I mixed other colours to reflect different tones of it. I like the way that these small colour changes are reinforced by the black outlines that define the characters

in the shot.
After a  few preliminary sketches I created a concept for my final painting. I took elements from both of the previous paintings to get thee figures in different positions and at varying distances. The composition didn't seem to interesting so I replaced the central figure with a naked man wearing an ancient Mycenaean death mask, there is no rime or reason behind this change other than it making the painting more interesting, the interaction between the yellow shades of the mask and background should be interesting to see.

Rather than using the oil colours that I used for the concept paintings I decided to use egg tempera that I mixed myself. I will go more in depth with the mixing process in a later post but after basing the board I spread a similar geryish yellow as the one used on the original studies. I then drew the composition on to the wood board using ink since graphite will show through egg tempera. I used several photos that I had taken to paint in the different figures. I accidentally spilt the ink as you can see but I think this actually
the scene over all since it adds some vague cloud like notions in the
final painting.
To the right you can see the final product of this planing, This was my first time experimenting with powder paint mixing so I wasn't sure how the painting would look but I am very pleased with the result, the colours are far more vibrant than I thought but they still maintain a very earthy texture and hue

I have no previous knowledge of the work of Luc Tuymans but when I saw images of his paintings I found them extremely interesting and thought provoking., his muted colour scheme and simple yet masterful application of paint is used to portray elements of our modern times as well as elements of his own life and experiences.
As I have said I still know very little about this artist however I have decided to right my term essay on Tuymans which will involve allot of research' so I plan to right another summery of my thoughts on his work after I have a fuller understanding of it

This small painting was more of an experiment than a finished piece but there are elements of it that I think are note worthy.
the original premiss for this painting was that complimentary colours when painted in close proximity will draw the attention of the viewer (this is used quite subtly in some pointillist paintings) I painted a face using fairly toned down colours like the pink and light blue. I then painted the shadows of the face that would usually fall in to the back ground with green and red which was an attempt to pull those areas to the foreground.
This experiment ended up flattening the entire face so I decided to add some more interesting elements to the painting. I wanted to emphasise the small size of the canvas I was working on by selecting areas of the face that would have fit comfortably within the canvas and stretching them out of the frame.
After painting the head bald I added in an area of black paint that was clearly meant to represent hair however I attempted to make this area look as flat and artificial as possible.
There was no end goal or intent for this painting but i think that this adds to its appearance, since i was only painting it to experiment with concepts, I was not concerned with whether or not my ideas would work which makes this painting very different from my usual work which is generally very careful and planned.

The painting to the left is my first attempt at combining oil colours with ready mixed tubes of egg tempera. I now realise that I made some basic mistakes as a result of not fully understanding the paints. the biggest mistake made was using tempera on canvas rather than a hard surface such as wood, i'm not sure how this will affect the painting as it ages.
I used thick oils to layer non distinct areas of colours with different consistencies, these areas (light blue, dark blue and yellow) were meant to add ambiguity to the painting. It is not meant to be clear where, who or what this figure is. I also wanted the face to contrast with the blank areas of colour by being highly detailed with many subtle colour changes.
originally I was going to add far more to this painting but when I reached this stage I decided to leave the body and hands un painted other than a black guide line. I really like this half finished look because it makes the figures hands seem alienated from the face and body.
I am very pleased with how this painting turned out, its mysterious and bizarre with ought being too loud. whats interesting is that this painting is very different from my initial sketches and plans, I should remember this whenever I feel that I have hit a mental block. Once I start painting and experimenting with different techniques ideas will generate themselves.

One of my favourite painters is Andrew Wyeth but instead of focusing on his body of work I wanted to talk about his paint of choice egg tempera which I have recently been experimenting with. Egg tempera is a very old form of paint that went out of fashion when oil paints were invented, they have a muted earthy colour to them unlike the artificial sheen of certain acrylics and they dry extremely fast unlike oils. I thought this would work well with my painting style and I was somewhat correct, the quick drying paints made it easy to create multiple thin layers however unlike acrylics even the dry paint is very vulnerable to water and I found myself destroying previous layers with over coats that were thinned with water so I had to adapt my painting style accordingly.
Tempera paints also clash with acrylics when used together since even non glossy acrylics have a shiny plastic effect when compared to egg tempera. This means I cant use acrylic undercoating's or backgrounds which is a problem since Tempera is very expensive and I don't want to use lots of it. my solution to this problem was using an oil base coat and background since they have a similar consistency, I then paint on to the oil when it is relatively dry.
I have had to adapt my painting style to accommodate the difficulties of egg tempera but the finished results and the subtle differences from the two other commonly used paints make it a very compelling medium to continue to master.

Although a lot of my artist research is based on long dead painters there are many contemporary artists that I really admire. One such artist is John Kleckner. I rote an essay on Kleckner's untitled painting of Hercules but I wanted to take this opportunity to address the large body of work that he has created in a similar style. Kleckner uses two different methods of working and two contrasting mark making materials in a single painting to emphasise a disparity or a clashing of ideas. This can be seen in the painting to the right in which the highly detailed but monotoned man is surrounded by explosive and free flowing inks. To me this contrast represents the disconnection between humans and there natural roots. Im the painting the man is naked and seems to be attempting to reconnect with the natural world but is unable to do so.  This theme is seen in much of Kleckner's work and while I don't want to use the exact same idea I want to echo the question of humans and our place in the world that is not constructed by us, since this is a topic that is often on my mind as a nature lover that is often glued to his computer.

After my last post I started to think more about the public perception of the mythical creatures known as Cyclops. being interested in ancient history and mythology I realised that the common view of these creatures as dim witted monsters is almost entirely based on Homer's Polyphemus. in true Greek mythology the Cyclops was seen in a very different light that has roots in bronze age history. It is believed that during the late bronze age and the Mycenaean empire the highly skilled black smiths would be distinguished from common men by painting a small circular shape on to there forehead. After the fall of the Mycenaeans and the start of the Greek dark age working bronze became a forgotten art after the prevalence of iron. stories traveled of these ancient marked men that could work metal like no modern man and so the myth was born. In the work of Hesiod the Cyclops are the ones that create the armer and weaponry of the Olympians during there war with the Titans. This view of Cyclops being intelligent creators and artisans has been lost somewhat in popular culture and I think it would be very interesting to explore in my work, rather than completely recreating the idea of the Cyclops like Redom maybe it would be useful to reintroduce people to there original depiction as seen through my eyes.

In Odilon Redon's painting "Cyclops" a man (most likely Homer's Odysseus) is hiding to escape the wondering cyclops (probably representing Polyphemus). While the technical aspects of the painting such as the murky colour pallet mixed with vibrant splashes of red, yellow and green interest me what really grabs my attention is the way that Polyphemus has been painted. Homer portrays the Cyclops as being a harsh, barbaric creatures that feast on the flesh of men, they were obviously meant to scare his audience. This barbaric humanoid figure has been depicted in many paintings and drawings over the years in much the same way which makes Redon's reinterpretation of the character very interesting. Instead of a humanoid figure Redon has painted a sickly yellow figure with a circular noseless head that stares at the viewer. Instead of an appearance of anger or malice the cyclops seams serene and calm which makes the blood covered smiling mouth much more disturbing. This reinterpretation of a well known creature creates a shocking painting that can freely display the views and styles of the painter much more freely than a painting that is restricted by traditional ideas. Using a well known story such as this and  using it to express my own unique interpretation would be a very interesting concept to try in my work.