Rabbit Hides, Egg Yolks & Mummies Painting in the Ancient World is the day-long workshop I attended on Sunday at the Getty Villa. We learned Romano-Egyptian painting techniques led by artist Sylvana Barrett. We learned how to mix pigments with boiled rabbit hide (or cow hide) glue or egg yolks to make our own paint and prepared a poplar board (which is what the Mona Lisa was painted on) using authentic materials on which we created a tempera portrait. We started out in the museum gallery looking at the mummy portraits. I've looked at these many times but never noticed the fine (and not-so-fine) cross hatching before. We learned to use this technique to create shadows and highlights and soften the edges between them. I rather like this technique and plan to experiment in acrylics.
I'm not comfortable doing anything for the first time in a classroom situation so although I'm not happy with my finished product, it was a fun day and I'd like to use these pigments and techniques at my own speed. But for better or worse, I'm brave enough to post the portrait on this blog for the whole world to see! And you can see the mummy portrait that inspired this painting here. (So, mine doesn't look so bad now, heh....)
The instructor will be teaching a workshop on manuscript illumination later in the year and I already have the date penciled into my day planner.
(Photo copyright roslyn m wilkins)
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