Ruminations on Tempera

Written by Teresita Blanco (The Artsy Sister)

While working on my website, I noticed a couple of things while uploading from specific brands. To keep organized, I go by brands, instead of by types. Once I get everything from a specific brand, I move onto the next one. What I noticed is that none of the art companies and brands bother to make tempera. Tempera is great, but only Crayola bothers to manufacture it. Ever since Crayola sank its teeth into Tempera, this paint has been relegated to the underwhelming title of Kid's Toys. In the old days, Tempera was respected and produced, but now... Well, you know the rest.

For those that do not know, Tempera is one of the oldest paints in the world. There are samples of this type of paint in Egyptian tombs. So, if you worry that this paint won't last, you have another thing coming. The best examples of these Egyptian tempera paintings are in the Fayum mummy portraits. They are called Fayum because that is where they are found, in the Fayum basin. More specifically, they are located in the city of Hawara. They were made from the 2nd century BC to  1st century AD. From time to time, they find latter paintings. However, it is not known when they fell out of style. 

There is about 900 known paintings. They were usually found in Egyptian cemeteries. The thing of having a fancy grave was not limited to the pharaohs. The locals would also attempted to doll up their graves using whatever they could afford. Anyhow, historians think those mummy paintings sync up with medieval iconography or whatever. Iconography refers to the making of religious paintings and statues for the purpose of worshiping them. This is no idolatry rather. They are a point of contemplation.

The priests used to believe the serfs were idiots and so forth. Instead of teaching them how to read and write, they used their tax dollars to  decorate the churches, while they did entire liturgies in a dead language.  I do enjoy the end results and so forth. The tempera paintings that are best known are those produced by the European Catholic priests and the painters they employed. 

It was the main medium of painting in Europe up the 1500s. All the surviving works of Michelangelo were made with Tempera. Now, in the west the only tempera produced for the mainstream is made by Crayola and other children's toy supplies. However, artist grade tempera is not currently being made, which is a pity. Then again, acrylic is now the most popular medium of painting. Worldwide, only Greece and Russia still employ tempera. Their painters mainly use it as part of the wall paintings of Orthodox churches. They are very traditional, like that. The Russian painters manufacture their own tempera paint. 

These days, most artists buy their painting supplies instead of making them on their own. The knowledge of how to make painting supplies has died down somewhat. Only the companies know how to go about it. Before the process was industrialized, painters would learn everything from their teachers. Among the things they learned was how to make the paint, the brushes and the canvas.  

Well, this just about a brief little history on the rise and fall of tempera paints. I only wishes I knew which brand of paints still makes artist grade tempera. Well, this now brings me to the featured painting. If you have not guessed it by now, I suppose I should spell it out for you. The painting was made with tempera. This was the sort of tempera that was used in my high school. My teacher Ms. Marfisi was having us make a Xmas themed paintings. I chose to do one featuring three angels I saw in a post card.

I first did the pencil drawing and then I painted it. As with most of my sketches, the final result looked like anime. I was going through a bit of an anime phase. I am still stuck there, if you are familiar with other of my works. Anyhow, I painted the maidens with three different hair colors and skin colorations. The original maidens in the postcard did not look like that. The thing I did managed to match was the dress. The dresses did look more or less like that. It took about a month to complete. 

This was back when I had time to spare to paint. I always wanted to go into art school. However, to enter it I needed something akin to a portfolio. I never bothered to make one. It all boils down to one choice. I had two AP classes choices. One was Psychology and the other was Studio Art. I chose AP Psychology. After the first D, I ended up leaving the class for Journalism. The rest as they say is history. 

I suppose there is no need to fret about it. I am not one know to show regret. It is not also not healthy to ponder on what if scenarios. Everything is how it is because it was meant to be. You cannot change the past, so there is no point in thinking about it. I only wanted to ruminate about tempera. I wish more art companies would develop it. I also wish more painters would use it, instead of acrylics. It is the first type of paint I was exposed to, so it has some sentimental value.