Seasoned Painters Step Outside Their Comfort Zone

… and try painting with egg tempera, instead of their usual media (oil, acrylic).  It was a joy to share my favorite medium with my critique group (Ellen Holtzblatt, Monica Sageman, Gabriella Boros, Colleen Cox and Jackie Eddy.)  We enjoyed the hospitality of Cindy Jevon’s PerficalSense Studio and Art Salon.

My critique group tries egg tempera painting. From left: Ellen Holtzblatt, Monica Sageman, Gabriella Boros, Colleen Cox, Jackie Eddy. Jackie Eddy (right) used egg tempera in a delicate, watercolor style– beautiful!

Colleen usually paints in oil– she likes the quick drying time of egg tempera and the purity of the colors. She quickly figuring out ways to blend and layer her colors in a different way than she does in oil..

Gabi, a detail-loving, narrative artist, said “ooh” and “aah” a lot. It’s a match made in heaven. She quickly made a wonderful portrait of Ellen. See her work at: http://www.gabriellaboros.com/gabriellaboros.com/Home_page.html

Monica finds the planning required for egg tempera is a little off-putting, but she is able to create a lovely, Matisse-like sketch of the room.

Ellen paints lusciously in oils… and in egg tempera, too, we found out. See Ellen’s oil paintings at: http://www.ellenholtzblatt.com/

Egg tempera can be purchased in tubes, but the traditional (and most rewarding) way to use it is by mixing pure pigments (the color ingredient in all paints) with the yolk of an egg on a glass palette.  A little water is added to thin the paint, and the result is a brilliantly vivid, water-soluble paint that allows for transparent glazes and layers, opaque paint when desired and incredibly fine lines for detail.

Pure, dry pigments, the yolk of an egg, and a painting knife: making egg tempera

Expulsion from Paradise, Master of Jean de Mandeville, 1360

Portrait Of Simonetta Vespucci, 1480’s

Study for fresco: Prayer, by Kazimir Malevich, 1907

Oknonadache, Marc Chagall, 1915

Reginald Marsh, Mr. Broe on the Deck, 1936

Persephone, Thomas Hart Benton, 1938-39

Andrew Wyeth, Pennsylvania Landscape, 1942

Ben Shahn, Vanity, 1949

Peter Hurd, Bonfire, 1950

Carpenters, by Jacob Lawrence, 1977

Tim Lowly, Beloved, 2004

Fred Wessel, Star Gazer, 2000’s (?)

Doug Safranek, Diving In, 2006. Doug Safranek used to share a studio in New York with Colleen Cox (see critique group, above)

Andrea Deszo, Candyland WY, 2000’s (?)

Sarah McEneany, Family Portrait, 2007

Here are some examples of how I have used egg tempera:

Commissioned Ketubah (Jewish marriage contract), 2012. Egg tempera and india ink calligraphy

Commissioned Ketubah (Jewish marriage contract), 2012. Egg tempera and india ink calligraphy

Ocean Crossing II (My Grandma Crossing The Ocean), 2012. Egg tempera on panel; frame embellished with hand-tooled copper and brass foil

Commissioned Ketubah (Jewish marriage contract), 2012. Egg tempera and india ink calligraphy

Freedom Riders, 2011. Commissioned for Oprah Winfrey by group of Freedom Riders on the 50th Anniversary, 1961-2011

Commissioned Award, presented to architect Edward Anders Sovik by N. Am. Academy of Liturgy, 2003

… more can be seen on my website.

Revisiting Thomas Hart Benton

Thomas Hart Benton, Back From the Fields, 1930s

Thomas Hart Benton, Nebraska Evening, 1941

Night Of The Hunter, film still, 1955, dir. Charles Laughton

Grant Wood, Seed Time and Harvest, 1930’s

Thomas Hart Benton:  A Life is a new biography of the American Regionalist artist by Justin Wolff (reviewed in the NY Times 7-1-12.)  Reading about Benton reminded me of my scorn for this reactionary, xenophobic, homophobe back when I was in art school in the 1970’s.  His life’s arc is summed up by the fact that this popular and successful Social Realist artist was eclipsed by his former student, Jackson Pollock.  Benton’s stylized realism and nostalgic view of a simpler America was like Andy Griffith at a Lady Gaga concert.

My personal view of Benton evolved as I outgrew the need to square off against ideologies in art, in order to form my own identity.  In other words, I put aside my own prejudices against Benton’s prejudices, and took a fresh look at his work.  In the mid 80’s, I happened upon a trove of Benton lithographs in an exhibit at R. S. Johnson Fine Art in Chicago.  I was struck by the sinuous beauty and powerfully expressive line in Benton’s graphic work.

Reading about Benton today, I thought about ways his influence pervaded American art.  One of my favorite films is Night Of The Hunter, by Charles Laughton.  Looking at film stills, it is clear that Laughton had a painter’s sense of expressionist drama. Perhaps his stylized view was influenced by Benton’s view of silhouettes of the human drama, played out against the gentle swell of Midwestern plains and river valleys.

Grant Wood, despite the iconic status of American Gothic,  also has been marginalized.  Until I saw the fine collection of his work at the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art in Iowa, I thought of him as a one-hit-wonder.  Like Benton, his work has a lyrical, stylized approach to American landscape that is as distinctive as it is beautiful.  It is well worth a second look.