What to expect on a tempera course.
Our tempera courses started in 2009 and were a great success, so we are planning to run two more in 2010.
(Before you arrive I will have prepared a gessoed panel in order that we get started straight away, and all other required materials for this workshop are supplied.)
To give you an idea of what to expect, the week is broken down something like this;
Day one - Saturday
The house - Siliano Alto.
Guests arrive on the Saturday afternoon at various times, and we provide a free pick-up service from our local railway station in Chiusi, from which there are excellent and easy rail links from all over Italy. We are always happy to send you details of how to get here and your probable train connections from airports etc.
Having settled into your accommodation at thehouse during the afternoon, early on in the evening there is a welcome per-dinner drink for the group to meet up and get to know each other. We then have dinner in the studio and the evening is free for you to relax before the first working day.
Day two - Sunday
This is our first work day, and we spend the morning in the studio learning about the techniques of Tempera painting, the traditional methods used to achieve the wonderful luminous effects using a muxture of egg yolk and traditional powder pigments, mixed up in mussel shells.
I will give a quick tour of the studio in order that everyone is familiar with both the materials required and where to find it all.
I will then do a little demonstration of how to prepare the wooden panels upon which we will be painting and you will then have to choose an image to complete during the week from a range of examples I have in the studio.
You are, of course, welcome to bring your own images and ideas, and we will aim to make a good start, placing the images onto the gessoed wood panels.
We will break for lunch and have dinner together in the studio in the evening. Students are always welcome to use the studio as they wish during the day and into the evening.
Day three - Monday
Part of the tempera process involves the application of gold leaf onto a red clay surface as a background, this clay is called 'bole'. Each stage in the process is relatively slow and requires patience and time, the bole requiring a minimum of 4 coats, and the gesso beneath a minimum of 6 coats.
During the waiting times, we carefully consider the next stages and practice mixing the pigments and laying the colours down, in preparation for the next part of the process.Once again we will have breaks during the day, including lunch and dinner.
Day four - Tuesday
Tuesday is a day trip to Siena, the centre for excellence in Italian painting of the 14th Century, by artists such as Duccio, Lorenzetti and Simone Martini.
I will give you a guided tour of the city including the magnificent Campo where the world famous palio takes place, the enormous Duomo, the extraordinary and newly discovered Crypt under the Cathedral, and the wonderful Paninoteca museum, home to an amazing display of tempera painting of the 14th Century.
This is an opportunity to study the techniques of the great masters close up and to also have a welcome break from the studio!
Some of the examples you may choose from my selection of possible paintings are actually in this museum, and so you are able to see the real thing for yourself!
We will have lunch in a lovely restaurant near the campo and are back home in time for dinner in the studio.
Day five - Wednesday
Refreshed and inspired by the trip to Siena, we are now ready to start painting the boards. Once again this is a slow and careful process, building up the layers from barks through to lights to create the form.
Most students will never have done this sort of painting before, and so everyone is learning at the same time, sometimes from me and sometimes from each other. we all 'chip in' with ideas and techniques and there is always a convivial and fun atmosphere in the studio, listening to music and working hard together. During the week I will also attempt to complete a painting myself, in order that, if required, quick demonstrations can be made.
Day six - Thursday
This is the big day! - as we have to finish our egg tempera paintings.
The prize on offer is a great day out in Florence on day seven, and we all get to work quickly in the morning.
On our last courses, the students finished (just!) and were justifiably proud of their achievements.
We will then all have a celebratory dinner out in a local Tuscan or Umbrian restaurant in the evening (included in the course fee).
Day seven - Friday
Having achieved our aim to produce an egg tempera painting in four studio days, we are now able to fully relax and take in the wonderful city of Florence. Once again I will guide you through some of the highlights of this city, with a walking tour around its Renaissance masterpieces. there is too much on offer to list here, but you won't be disappointed!
We will get back to the house in time for our final dinner together in the studio.
Day eight - Saturday
This is the final day of the course and, once I have packed up your paintings carefully for you, guests will be taken back to Chiusi station for various train connections to airports or wherever they may be going on to in Italy. This is the bit where we all say goodbye, swap email addresses, promise to come again next year and make sure that the paintings we are clutching so carefully onto are our own!
