Egg Tempera

EGG TEMPERA

Lecture on Impressionism

Egg Tempera is an ancient method of painting that uses egg yolk to bind the pigments into tough layers. Altar panels done 600 years ago, if properly preserved, look as if they had been done recently. In the Middle Ages and early Renaissance Egg Tempera was used exclusively by artists for most painting, except frescos and they were often liberally embellished with gold leaf and sometimes jewels. Modern secular Egg Tempera painting was revived in the early 20th century in Great Britain and many contemporary artists are known for their Egg Tempera paintings: Andrew Wyeth, Robert Vickery, Peter Hurd, and Thomas Hart Benton, to name only a few. I am very excited about Egg Tempera, especially because it offers such a huge selection of natural and synthetic pigments. The colors are pure and the paintings achieve a luminosity that is not possible in other mediums. They take a long time to complete due to the many layers of paint that it takes to create the final Egg Tempera panel. The paintings shown on this page are samples of my Egg Tempera work which seems to be a hot seller because only one of these paintings are available. However, please click the link to the Genesis Series for some more current work that is for sale.

	Pond at Sunset Egg Tempera on Gesso Panel Size: 3½ 5½ Finished with double mat and plain wood black frame 11 x 13 It always thrills me to see a gorgeous sunset or sunrise. In this case the "pond" (in reality a drainage pool that comes and goes with the seasons) was a mirror for this truly spectacular sky. $250	Private Collection
	Florida Storm Egg Tempera on Gesso Panel Size: 3 x 9 This painting was done out my kitchen window. It was one of my first Egg Tempera paintings and a favorite of mine. In 2005 I had a major retrospective show in Tampa shortly after the Katrina disaster in Louisiana and Mississippi. I raffled this painting off at the show to raise funds to send to several relief agencies.	Private Collection
	Strawberry Egg Tempera on Gesso Panel Size: 6 x 8 Finished with double mat and gold frame with linen liner Some of the reds in the tubes seem rather dull these days. I don't know if it is the quality of the cadmium or the additives and fillers. Egg Tempera pigments are pure and so I feel about these reds the way I did 45 years ago when I first started painting. Red pigments are really red! $450
	Hairy Berry Egg Tempera on Gesso Panel Size: 8 x 6 A raspberry is so incredible! Looking up close at one of these gems shows such a complex arrangement of building blocks. I wonder what the hairs are about? I love to eat them too.	Private Collection
	Raspberry Egg Tempera on Gesso Panel Size: 8 x 6 These berry portraits are amusing and beautiful, I think. I have never appreciated them until I did these paintings and now when I eat berries I salute their uniqueness and enjoy them all the more. Eventually the blueberries are coming!	Private Collection
	Sliced Tomatoes Egg Tempera on Gesso Panel Size: 6 x 8 This was one of my early efforts at Egg Tempera. It was successful enough to try another and another and another. It was given as a wedding gift to a young man who is an organic farmer in Vermont.	Private Collection
	Snoopy Rock Egg Tempera on Gesso Panel Size: 3 x 9 I was commissioned to paint this Arizona icon (in the Sedona area) for a man whose name is Charlie Brown!	Private Collection

©Gainor E. Roberts 2008 All the works of art shown in the website are protected by the Copyright Laws of the United States of America and may only be used by permission of the artist.