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
Hello there,
I’m not understanding the full picture. Are you really sure it was not overpigmented for the binder amount?
Then whether the albumine wasn’t too old and damaged, reducing the filmogen properties? They wouldn’t cure much over time. For what I understand of your situation I’d be concerned whether the albumine content has degraded and it’s no longer forming a good film.
I wish you a nice day,
@lussh Thanks for your thoughts. The areas are slightly “gummy”, as though there is actually too much egg, rather than not enough.
Your comment made me think that perhaps I used some egg that was old. There are two moments in my process where the egg could become old. One: using old or expired eggs. 2. using some left over egg that I had reserved in the fridge from a previous painting session.
Naturally I would never use rotten egg, but would egg that had been sitting around for a while really degrade and lose its filming property?
One other possibility is that I had used too much egg AND had not been able to properly bind the pigment particles because of improper mulling of small particle sizes.
Thinking out loud here, thanks
eli
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