Egg Tempera films not "curing" continue to be very fragile

Hello Mitra,

I have some layers of egg tempera on my traditional panels that remain very fragile after a month (thus far) of curing while other areas of the painting with different pigments are much harder already. Specifically, some areas with 3 or 4 layers of a single pigment paint of somewhat small particle sizes such as Cobalt Teal, and Napthol Scarlett. It is not that the areas are under-bound and pigment sloughs off when I rub it. Instead the areas are just very very fragile, to the point that resting my hand on the painting in my nitrile glove while painting other areas of the picture will damage these fragile sections and rub away paint layers down to the ground. It is noteworthy especially because many other areas on the painting are already strong and stable by comparison.

Nourishing layers in test areas have not done much to remedy this problem.

Should I expect these areas to cure to a harder layer eventually?

Or should I try to fix this problem by another means?

For what it is worth I do my best to temper my paints properly…

cheers and thanks for any advice,

eli