Making Egg Tempera Paint with Dry Pigments

Tempera paint, which is commonly referred to as Egg Tempera is a fast drying paint, was the primary method of painting until oil paint became more popular during the 15th Century.

Egg Tempera is made by mixing dry pigments with a water-soluble binder such as egg yolk. Egg tempera is a very long lasting paint medium which tends to be unaffected by humidity and temperature. 

This ancient technique is seeing a bit of a revival as contemporary artists all over the world rediscover the joys and craftsmanship of painting with egg tempera and it’s not hard to see why.

“The surface of these [egg tempera] colours forms a texture that sparkles and reflects light much like gold does, but in ways that are much more subtle than gold.”

Fred Wessel Contemporary Egg Tempera Artist referring to seeing Italian Renaissance paintings for the first time. Pictured (right) "Capricorn" from the Constellation Collection by Fred Wessel. Tempera with Gold, Silver and Palladium Leaf. 18” x 24”. [ www.fredwessel.com]

“Each pigment has a unique story and set of characteristics. Working directly with pure pigments is one of the pleasures of egg tempera.”

Koo Schadler, Contemporary Egg Tempera Artist [ www.kooschadler.com]

Tempera paint sold in tubes is not Egg Tempera. According to those in the know shop purchased tempera tubes contain Tempera Grassa – usually a mixture of egg yolk, drying agents, preservatives and stabilisers. 

With more and more people becoming allergic to preservatives and drying agents in products, we were thrilled to read that our non toxic dry pigment supplier, Coloured Earth, had published this how to guide to make Egg Tempera. 

We were keen to making our own tempera paint.

Experimenting with Tempera (Egg Yolk Paint)

Traditional egg tempera paint is so quick and easy to make! All you need is an egg (organic and free range preferably of course!), some non-toxic dry pigments and some water or oil (or Gum Arabic). By making tempera paint with non toxic pigments yourself you can create a medium that behaves exactly the way you want it to. We followed this How to Make Tempera Paint Guide, and then tried out various techniques and mixes.

Through my own experiments I have found that yolk mixed with water gives you more of a watercolour effect, when mixed with oil it is (wait for it) more like an oil paint and when mixed with a Gum Arabic liquid it behaves more like an acrylic. All with the added bonus of vibrant light reflecting colours.

For Egg Tempera Pigments, I would recommend choosing UV stable dry pigments from the Coloured Earth Range. That way you can be sure that the colours in your masterpiece will not fade over time. 

No matter which thinners are used though there are still some fundamental aspects of painting with egg tempera that make it really quite different to other paints in a few key ways:

• It is generally applied in very thin layers to take full advantage of the translucent nature of the paint (also thick layers will crack).
• It is dries very quickly, and the recently dried surface cannot be reworked as the paint lifts from the surface (the final painting can take several months to fully cure).
• Blending colours is not that easy on the canvas, so artists tend to use optical colour blending techniques through the build-up of layers. Interestingly optical blending can either be from light to dark or dark to light

Like other paint mediums, however, egg tempera can be brushed, sponged, smudged, stamped, puddled, splattered, masked and carefully removed with fine sandpaper.

However you choose to use it, egg tempera is simple to make and well worth a try if you enjoy being creative. I certainly had a lot of fun painting with my own Egg Tempera Paint.

If you are keen to give it a try check out the Pigment Colour Collection for Artists Dry Pigments Set or indeed the Coloured Earth Pigment range which also has Titanium Oxide (Titanium White) and Black Iron Oxide Powders which might also be useful.