Tempera Painting
Fuse historical tempera painting techniques with contemporary style
Course overview
This immersive five-day, on-campus course is a practical opportunity to dedicate time to the study of tempera painting – a rich, heritage medium – to inform your own artistic practice. The course includes one day on-location in St Ives and four days on campus at Falmouth. Egg tempera is a paint type typically associated with Medieval painting and traditions of icon painting.
Typically, tempera painting includes richly symbolic forms of image-making that contain luminescent colours, structured compositions and fine detailed brush-work; rather than communicating what the world looks like, they seek to communicate a sense of going beyond the real. Some of the most famous artworks of all time - such as Duccio’s Madonna and Child, The Wilton Diptych, Medieval Russian icons and Piero Della Francesca’s Portrait of the Duchess of Urbino - are examples of tempera in practice.
You don't need to be a practicing artist to enjoy and develop new skills on this course. With use of our dedicated art studios and facilities, and expert guidance from our staff, this is a course for anyone with an eye for beautiful, historical artistic form.
Course details
Following an introduction to a wide range of egg tempera paintings, this course will give you an opportunity to explore the ideas and world-view that created these richly imaginative paintings. You'll be guided to begin considering how this slow and structured painting form can be sensitively adapted to speak to your own contemporary painting practice.
You'll learn how to make and modulate the mixture for egg tempera painting, together with learning brush skills for fine detail work that will be practiced throughout the week to help you develop your skills.
To begin your learning, you’ll make a painted copy of a detail selected from a Medieval tempera painting. This will be applied to a burnished, traditional gesso panel, which you'll also learn to make. Traditional gesso is made from a calcium-carbonate based pigment called whiting that is mixed and heated together with an animal hide glue.
Between six and ten layers of the ground are applied to a panel, to create a thick base-layer to paint on. In comparison to painting on a surface prepared with shop-bought plastic-based acrylic gesso’s, a traditional gesso surface looks, feels and behaves in a very different way.
Following further exploration into the alchemy of paint, and paying particular attention to methods of developing colour through layering, you will have the opportunity later in the week to develop your own final painting in tempera paint using all the new styles and techniques you have learned. There will be time to think about how you can continue to adapt this painting style to fit your personal practice.
What you need to know
This five-day short course will run from 1 - 5 July 2024.
You'll have a dedicated shared studio with enough space for you to expand your skillset, and the studios will be open from 09:00-21:00 each day.
On the final afternoon you'll come together with students from our screen printing, colour etching and drawing courses for a private view and the opportunity to discuss your work.
With dedicated studio access at our Falmouth Campus, you'll have the opportunity to develop your creative practice through a balance of taught technical skills during masterclasses in the mornings and supported skill development and practice in the afternoons.
One day will feature a trip to Porthmeor Studios in St Ives and the Tate St Ives to gather ideas in response to what you see, ready to generate a new painting composition that you'll create using egg tempera paint.
Our Falmouth Campus is set in subtropical gardens and is just a few steps from Falmouth town centre or a short stroll to the shores of Gyllyngvase beach.
Find out more about the facilities, access, cafes and more at Falmouth campus.
Comfortable clothes that you don’t mind getting messy.
In preparation for translating an egg tempera technique into your own painting style, it would be helpful, though not integral, to bring along some physical (printed-off) imagery, such as photos or previous drawings/ paintings that might serve as inspiration for creating a new composition to paint in egg tempera. We will be working on a small A5 scale, so nothing needs to be big
Please bring a pencil and pen to write with, draw and take notes.
If you have a small set of watercolour paints or inks, bring this with you for drawing, sketching and taking notes during the trip to St Ives, and to use during any undirected time in the afternoons.
We will be making paintings that require fine detail. If you think that focusing on small detail might be a struggle for your eye-sight, you might want to bring a clip-on magnifying glass as shown in the link given here.
All materials required for egg tempera painting are included in the course price.
Accommodation is not included in this course cost.
If you would like to book accommodation, please find some suggestions below. Please note that we are not responsible for any accommodation costs incurred, including as a result of the course being rescheduled or cancelled.
There are a range of hotels and B&Bs available in Falmouth, within walking distance of our Falmouth Campus. We can facilitate a corporate rate for the following hotels if booked via us. If you would like to take advantage of this for your booking, please contact us.
Merchants Manor
Address: Western Terrace, TR11 4QJ
Contact details: 01326 312734
Distance from Falmouth Campus: 0.2 miles
Parking: 60 spaces available on site
St Michaels Resort
Address: Gyllyngvase Beach, TR11 4NB
Contact details: 01326 312707
Distance from Falmouth Campus: 0.2 miles
Parking: Reserved for overnight guests on a first come first served basis
The Greenbank Hotel
Address: Harbourside, TR11 2SR
Contact details: 01326 312440
Distance from Falmouth Campus: 0.9 miles
Parking: Handful of marked bays in front of hotel plus underground car park
Penryn Campus
This course is based on our Falmouth Campus. If you would like to stay on-campus at our Penryn campus, our Penryn student halls accommodation can be booked. This is a simple and affordable accommodation option and there is a regular bus service from Penryn Campus to Falmouth. A mix of double and twin bedrooms are available, each with bed, desk and en-suite shower room. Bedding and towels are provided. You should bring your own toiletries. There are shared kitchen facilities.
Lunch and tea/coffee included each day on campus (all diets catered for).
On the day-trip to St Ives, lunch is not included as there will be enough of a break in the middle of the day to visit a café of your choice, or choose a takeaway lunch to take to the beach.
Course programme
This is an outline of what to expect for the week. Each day will include lunch, with time to socialise with your fellow students.
Day 1
After an introduction to a wide range of egg tempera paintings, you’ll learn how to make the basic mixture and look at some simple brush exercises. You’ll make a first copy of a medieval painting on a burnished, traditional gesso panel using home-made carbon paper.
Day 2
Trip to St Ives to gather ideas in response to what you see, ready to generate a new egg tempera painting later in the week. We will visit Porthmeor Studios for talks and a private tour, as well as the Tate St Ives.
Day 3
Back in the studio, you’ll learn how to make your own wood panel prepared with a traditional gesso painting ground (similar to an undercoat), which can then be used for your final work in days 4 and 5. There will also be plenty of time to continue learning, practicing and refining your painting techniques.
Day 4
You'll start today by looking at the alchemy of paint, and paying attention to how you can develop colour through layering.
You'll be encouraged and supported to begin your own final painting today, using all the styles and techniques you’ve learned so far.
Day 5
The final day will focus on resolution of your final work. In the late afternoon the course will conclude with a mini-exhibition / Private View of your work with our other Art Week course participants and a chance to celebrate your achievements.
Nina Royle
This course is facilitated by Nina Royle.
Senior Technician: The Falmouth School of Art
Nina's own art practice and interests question how the richness of historical painting processes can be adapted to speak to our contemporary moment.
What is 'tempera paint'?
Egg tempera paint is made by binding dry pigments with egg yolk. Historically it was used on a wood panel prepared with layers of traditional gesso. Unlike oil paint, egg tempera paint is applied in thin layers that dry almost immediately. This means that the paint can be used to build-up up opulent and complex layers of colour. Also different to other paints, egg tempera paint can-not be re-worked once applied to a surface. So, when painting in egg tempera paint a much more structured process for constructing a painting is followed.
As in paintings from the medieval period, a gesso surface is first created and burnished, underlayers (or flood layers) of paint are applied, before outlines are added, followed by subsequent shades. White highlights are the final marks to be added to a painting. Where there are areas of shading and colour gradation, this is generally achieved through fine detailed hatching or dotting with the brush.
Where will the course take place?
Lamorva, Falmouth Campus
Nestled away just a stone's throw from the centre of town, our Falmouth Campus is composed of industry-standard facilities, relaxed learning spaces and a vast subtropical garden.
On our campus, you'll be within walking distance from Falmouth's bustling high-street and you'll also be just up the road from Gyllyngvase Beach.
The campus is close to a large public car park and also just a short walk away from Falmouth Town train station if you're using public transport from Penryn, Truro or further afield.
Download our Falmouth Campus map below
Explore our Fine Art facilities
Important information
Our campus is not fully accessible, with some activities in early Victorian three storey buildings. Please contact us if you have questions about mobility and access.
During the course there is an emphasis on painting fine details with a narrow-tipped brush. If you think this might prove testing for your eyesight, please let me know in advance. You may also want to bring a clip on magnifier that can help enlarge the surface area that you are painting on.
We are currently refurbishing our library building on the Falmouth Campus. There will be some noise in and near this building, which is located opposite the Printmaking studios. Please contact us if you have any questions.
Uses of animal products
Please be aware that animal products are used on this course, including egg tempera and potentially glue containing animal products.
Animal hide glue is a breathable, versatile and bio-degradable glue that has been used for centuries as a binder to create paint and to prepare canvases, amongst many other uses.
On this course, we use the glue to create a traditional gesso surface as used in Medieval panel painting. A traditional gesso surface works exceptionally well with the properties required by egg tempera paint. A casein painting ground is sometimes used as an alternative. This is made from milk protein and also creates an excellent surface to work on. The process to make a casein ground however is more complex and is beyond the scope of this course.
Download our Terms & Conditions below.
Explore all of our summer short courses
Drawing
This five-day drawing course will lead you on a journey through Cornish places, landscapes and hist...
Fashion & Textiles: Explore Natural Dye
Join our unique five-day short course at our Fashion & Textiles Institute, with an expert team of cr...
Making Colour Etchings
This five-day course is for art practitioners with some previous printmaking experience who wish to ...
Painting: Colour Workshop
This practical five-day painting course is designed to present the principles of colour contrast. Yo...
Screen Print
This is a five-day course for practicing artist/printmakers who have an interest in furthering their...
Tempera Painting
This five-day, immersive on-campus course is a practical opportunity to dedicate time to the study o...
