Attempt #2 imitation marbling (porphyry) in distemper on wood
Using Oak Panel 3 and 4 and Gesso Board 3, 4, 6, 7
Preparation
- With Joel's assistance, used a carpenter's saw to saw off another 6 x 12 in. segment of the oak board in the lab.
- I revisited Oak 1 and 2 and Gesso 1 and 2 to see how they had dried (no major changes, and the varnish was still a bit tacky to the touch). I took photos to record what the panels looked like dry.
-Heated RSG 10 % (pre-made) following Marolijn Bol’s process in double-boiler. While the glue heated, I started mulling the chalk and lake for the destrempe layer.
Lake Layer 1 (destrempe)
- I realized during my first attempt of this reconstruction on Friday how important mulling is to this process, and after consultation with Pamela, we have decided to mull the red lakes much longer and on a granite mulling surface rather than glass
- On the granite mulling stone, I mulled Kremer Chalk from Champagne with Brazilwood Lake B and a little of water
-It is already obvious after a few minutes that mulling for a longer period of time, and using the granite mulling stone, results in a much smoother paint and much more vibrant and uniform color.
-After mulling for about 15 minutes the paint is very smooth and becomes quite dark and saturated in color (a "rosy purple" according to Joel) and I keep having to add more chalk to dilute the color because I want the first layer to be a lighter pink color. The more we mull, the more dark and purple the color gets.
- However, the chalk really dessicates the mixture so I keep having to add more water as well.
- I transfer the chalk-lake paint into a 100ml beaker and with a pipette add some heated RSG 10%
- I paint gessoed panels 3 and 2 and noticed that bubbles are apparent in the painted surface. This might be a interesting effect in the eventual appearance of the marble!
- I also painted Oak Board 3 and 4 – no bubbles appear here though (presumably because the wood is unprimed wood is more porous than the gessoed surface). The paint is quite opaque, and smooth in its application.
- I painted gessoed panels 3 and 4 in a thick ‘single’ layer (several passes of the brush to achieve a single uniform layer of color)
- Joel and I are intrigued by the bubbles and the possibility that the white gesso surface is SUPPOSED to show through
- Oak panels 3 and 4 are drying into a very nice opaque lilac color
- Gessoed 3 and 4 are drying with some of the white background showing through the bubbled or streaked areas.
- I am definitely intrigued by the possibility that this layer is NOT supposed to be opaque (also since the artist-practitioner specifies that only a single layer is to be applied), so I acquire an additional gessoed board and label a new quadrant of squares 5, 6, 7, and 8 to provide surfaces for further experiementation.
- After having mulled the lake and chalk for much longer this time (about 20 mins), I make a thinner, more diluted destrempe mixture with more water and glue. I paint it onto gessoed panels 5 and 6 in a true single layer. I actually do not dip the brush back in the paint for each square, so there is a gradation of dark to light. I leave the bubbling and streaking visible so that I can see how this plays into the effect of the marbling later on.
Lake Layer 2 (wine)
- Again, I am going to mull the lake mixture well because its obvious that mulling greatly improves the color and texture of the paint. Cleo began mulling for her experiment about five minutes after me, so we set a timer for 30 minutes to make sure we mull very thoroughly.
- I am mulling together Brazilwood Lake B (the last of it – will have to move to Brazilwood Lake C if I need more red lake pigment) and the 2012 Rutherford Ranch Cabernet Sauvignon. The mixture dries fairly fast as it is spread out on the granite, so I pause momentarily to scrape the paint back up and add a few more drops of wine to keep the mixture liquid.
- The granite mulling stone is a much better surface than the glass that I used on Friday. The granite enables a much more vigorous mulling stroke and the resultant paint is very smooth. It makes for an easier and more effective mulling experience.
- I needed more lake, so I am adding some Brazilwood Lake 3.
- Five minutes into mulling, the mixture is a deep ‘wine color’. I am going to mull it for a long while more.
- After mulling for 20mins, I applied wine-lake mixture to Oak Wood 3. I am going to continue mulling to see if any major changes occur.
- After mulling for 35 minutes, I applied wine-lake mixture to Gessoed 4 and 5. After mulling it for this long, the wine-lake is a absolutely brilliant dark ruby red.
- Square 5 is the thinly-applied destrempe layer with the white ground showing through. I applied a thin wine-lake layer to 5. I don't want to fight the white.
- I am going to let Oak 3 and Gesso 4 and 5 dry completely before varnishing
- The wine layers applied over the lighter destrempe layers result in a deep, saturated, dark magenta. Oak 3 has a very solid color. Gesso 4 is trying with definite dark-light patterning (from the brushstrokes) but is overall quite dark. Gesso 5, which I applied with a lighter layer of both destrempe and wine, is drying with the most marble-like appearance, though still very much defined by the brushstrokes. I wish I had a softer brush to work with. I am thinking of maybe using empty panels Gesso 7 and 8 to try applying ALL layers with my fingers to be able to swirl it into a marbled pattern, or maybe try the Van Eyck method of spattering the paint into a porphyry pattern.
- I transfer the wine-lake from the granite into a 100ml beaker so that I can take it with me to the fume hood. I add another drop of wine because I scraped up some dry paint from the granite.
Varnish
- As discussed on Friday, I am going to try applying the varnish with my (gloved) finger(s) to see if that gets us closer to an imitation porphyry appearance.
- On the Oak 3, which has a larger surface area than the gesso squares, I’m going to try this with drops of varnish rather than spreading a layer of varnish over the entire surface.
- I put on gloves, and in SW fume hood I transfer the larch-aspic varnish from its sealed jar into a 100ml beaker.
Marbling
- I varnished the oak panels first. I Applied varnish to Oak 3, which had a dry wine-lake layer. I dripped varnish onto it with a brush and then spread the varnish with my gloved finger. Nothing really happened. The varnish immediately intensified the color and emphasized the light and dark effects, but nothing resembling marbling occurred.
- For Oak 4, I painted the wine-lake layer onto the destrempe layer and then immediately applied the varnish. I did this by using the brush to drop big splatters of varnish onto the wet wine-lake. This produced a spotty light-dark pattern, and then with my gloved finger I swirled the varnish into the wine-lake in a sweeping pattern. Eureka! The result was definitely something resembling porphyry! I was very happy with this outcome but decided to try it a few more times (on the smaller gessoed panels) to make sure I got it.
- In the same process as on the Oak panel, I applied varnish in drops to gessoed panel 4 (dry wine-lake) but there was very little effect on the surface pattern when I swirled it with my fingertip. The varnish did not seem to "penetrate" the lake layers as I was hoping.
- When I dribbled varnish on gessoed panel 3, the ‘penetration’ of the red layer that the AP mentioned in his recipe was immediately evident. The drops of varnish ripple through the wine-lake layer to reveal the lighter-colored destrempe layer beneath it. But this time, the fingertip marbling definitely did not work as well as when I had done this with Oak 4. Here, the varnish sort of ‘blurred’ with the wine-lake and did not create a pattern as easily (although this may be because I’m not swirling it properly, and it was a smaller area than Oak 4). I think I may have put too much varnish or too much wine-lake and the excess liquid prevented the patter from forming cleanly.
- Finally, I moved on to my newly acquired gesso board, where I had prepared squares 5 and 6 (these were the thinly applied detrempe layers showing white through the transparent streaks and bubbles, with 5 having been painted with a thin layer of wine-lake already and allowed to dry)
- As before, when I varnished the dry wine-lake on 6, not much happened. The dark and light areas were intensified and the color saturated, but the varnish did not cause any marbling effect.
- Gessoed panel 6 is where the magic happened. I am most pleased with gessoed panel 6. I painted on a layer of wine-lake and then right away dribbled the surface with varnish (but not too much). The stippling or spattering effect, over the thinly-applied destrempe layer (I had allowed bubbles, streaks, and parts of the white ground to show through) resulted in an excellent imitation of porphyry! Score! This was very exciting, as this means I’ve “figured out” the AP’s recipe and got it to work successfully. Very, very cool.
- I placed my freshly varnished panels in the fume hood to dry and proceeded with clean-up (for details on clean-up, see field notes from Friday - 1st Attempt)
In summary:
After a few attempts, the best method to achieve the author-practicioner's proscribed manner of what I think is supposed to be imitation porphyry i.e. for the back of a panel painting is:
1) Apply the 'destrempe' mixture of chalk, red lake, and RSG to a gessoed panel in a thin single layer. Make sure to mull the chalk and red lake well with a bit of water. Let the layer dry.
2) Mull the wine and red lake very, very well. Apply it to the dry destrempe layer and immediately apply the larch-aspic varnish.
3) Drop the varnish in dribbbles and spatters on the red layer. With a fingertip, swirl sparingly to achieve a porphyry-like effect. Let dry.//