A Recipe for Tempera Putrido

Tempera putrido is like 'white-out' for oil painters. It is a white that can be used for corrections in a painting where you have to paint a light over a dark. The putrido will dry quickly and will not become transparent over time as a regular white would.

This recipe came to me via John Angel who had a tube of it in his fridge back in the early 2000's. I was responsible for moving his home to a new apartment and I forgot the tube of putrido.  It worked wonderfully and so I am not sure if I will ever live it down.

You will need both tempera white and oil white:

Tempera white - Mix together: 1 part egg yolk, 1 part water and 1 part pigment.

Oil white - white pigment ground thickly into stand oil.

The  pigment can be titanium white or lead white although lead pigment is highly toxic if breathed in.

Then: one part oil white ground in one part tempera white will give you tempera putrido. Tube it and  store it in the fridge.

Here is an old BBC video of Pietro Annigoni, John Angel's maestro, mixing tempera colours for his painting.

Steps in the Production of a Painting Video

I just started playing around with some new video software and have put together some videos on the painting process, mostly aimed at helping my students.

Here is one on the steps in the production of a painting:
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbCqobeTlI0

Here is  "Big Form Modelling a Bouguereau".

The Painter and the City

Antonio Amandeu Conceicao Cruz was born in Porto and lived there his entire life. He took as his subject matter his hometown and spent a lifetime chasing the wet and mysterious light, characteristics of Porto.

In 1956 the great Portuguese director Manuoel de Oliveira produced the film "O Pintor e a Cidade". A beautiful silent film alternating scenes of the painter, the city and the artwork.

A simple love letter to one of my favourite cities.

Interview about Sacred Art

The Kolbe times recently interviewed me about my role in the Sacred Art program at St. Mary's College in Calgary, Canada.
A New Renaissance:The Sacred Arts
More information on St. Mary's Sacred Art program

A Great Statement about Beauty

Dr. Elizabeth Lev is one of my favourite art historians. An American based out of Rome, she speaks about art history with one foot thoroughly planted in the theology of the Catholic Church.
She recently did a TEDtalk about the Sistine Chapel in which she describes it as, "..a great statement about how beauty truly can speak to us all, through time and through geographic space."

If you enjoyed that there are longer talks about the Sistine Chapel and more on youtube:

Dr. Lev's website.

I also recommend her book, "A Body for Glory" which looks at the representation of the human body through art history through the lens of Pope John Paul's "Theology of the Body".