Making the Colour Green: Egg Tempera versus Oil | National Gallery, by The National Gallery on YouTube. 2 min 19 s.
- Video length
- 2 min 19 s
- Time to do it
- 30 minutes
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Steps
- 6
What you need
Steps
Put a small amount of green earth pigment on a glass palette or slab. Green earths are dull mineral clay pigments, so you need more of them than you would of a strong modern green.
For egg tempera, grind the pigment with a few drops of water into a smooth paste, then mix in fresh egg yolk. Add water a drop at a time until the paint flows from the brush.
Paint the tempera green in thin, quick strokes. It dries fast, so work one small area at a time and rinse your brush often.
For oil paint, mix the same pigment with walnut or linseed oil on the palette until it is smooth and buttery.
Use the oil green opaquely to cover an area, or thin it with oil or a medium and glaze it in translucent layers over dry paint.
For flesh, lay green earth as a cool base, let it dry, then build warm flesh colours over it. The green shows through and keeps the skin from looking flat.
Tips and common mistakes
Keep egg tempera fresh, as it spoils within a day or two, so mix only what you will use.
Let each oil glaze dry fully before adding another, or the layers turn muddy.
Wear a dust mask when handling dry pigment powder and keep it away from food.
Test a green earth on a scrap first, because it tints weakly compared with modern greens.
Questions
What is a green earth pigment?
It is a dull green pigment made from mineral clay. Italian painters of the 13th to 15th centuries used it as a base colour under flesh.
Why put green under skin tones?
A cool green base makes the warm flesh colours over it look more lifelike. The green sits in the shadows and stops the skin turning orange.
Can I mix egg tempera and oil paint together?
Not directly. Water based tempera will not bond to an oily surface, so keep the two techniques on separate layers or panels.
This guide was drafted from the video's details and general task knowledge. It has not been checked against the full video. Check the video and relevant product instructions before following a procedure. Report a correction.
