The Mixed Technique or "Mischtechnik"
I am starting this blog to help others interested in learning about the Mixed technique of painting or "Mischtechnik" in German. I have been intrigued by the results I have seen from other artists using this technique so I have been trying to learn more about it. I have been scouring the internet to find specific information on the steps and materials used in this technique but really haven't been able to find much. For myself and anyone else who is interested in learning how to do this, I have decided to write this blog as a confluence of all the information on it I have found. I plan on updating this site as I find new things.
First, a definition
From Wikipedia:
Mische technique or mixed technique or mixed method is a method of painting where egg tempera is used in combination with oil based paints and resins to create the possibility of rendering a luminous, resonant realism. The egg yolk of the egg tempera is a naturally occurring emulsion of water and oil. As such, the old masters found ways of extending the natural advantages of its emulsion to create lean, siccative, smoothly transitional, semi transparent layers of paint. The visual effects created by working in the mixed technique essentially rely upon the phenomenon of light refracting through many subsequent layers of paint.
One common approach is to transpose the main compositional elements of a value study onto a panel using India ink, then slowly build up volume by alternating egg tempera, with an overall glaze of oil paints mixed with resin, producing a jewel-like effect. The technique can be very time consuming and demanding. It is unforgiving of pentimenti, yet full of delightful surprises, since many unexpected colors can naturally arise during the ongoing glazing process.
Old masters such as Albrecht Altdorfer, Albrecht Dürer, Matthias Grünewald and Martin Schongauer used the method which saw a revival in the twentieth century by artists such as Ernst Fuchs and Egon von Vietinghoff, as well as Surrealist and visionary artists such as ((Philip Rubinov Jacobson)) and Brigid Marlin. Nicolas Wacker taught his own version of the technique at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris during the late 1960s and 1970s. Many contemporary painters credit their knowledge of the technique to him.
Next, examples
The artist that originally sparked my interest in this technique is Pietro Annigoni. Here are some examples of his work:
He is perhaps most famous for his portrait of Queen Elizabeth
There is a more information about him in italian than there is is English but there is this english video about his technique here: http://youtu.be/s-iNa7klC1I . This is a good introduction but obviously not meant for other artists.
Pretty much all I could find out about him is that he used a combination of tempera and oil paint. He used each to its greatest advantage. The oil, for the smooth, blended colors and the tempera for the fine details.
A good start, but I wanted to find out the specifics of using the Mixed Technique. I went on an internet exploration.
The next artist I came across for this technique is Brigid Marlin. She seems to be the Queen of the Miche Technique. She certainly is generous in sharing her knowledge and experience. Her website gives a great deal of information on how she creates her artwork including a step by step tutorial and her formula for egg tempera. I will not repeat all of it here. You can visit her website at: http://www.brigidmarlin.com/index.html .
In short this is how it works:
An ink drawing is painted over completely with a layer of red oil paint. The next day (when the paint is tacky) white tempera is used to paint the highlights, the lightest areas. She then paints a layer of yellow oil paint over the entire thing and then continues to refine the light areas with tempera being sure to let the tempera dry completely between layers. Then a layer of blue and more tempera. At this point she begins to block in the colors with oil paint.
The oil/tempera/oil layers give the painting a luminous, rich quality. Here is an example of her work:
Pretty much all I could find out about him is that he used a combination of tempera and oil paint. He used each to its greatest advantage. The oil, for the smooth, blended colors and the tempera for the fine details.
A good start, but I wanted to find out the specifics of using the Mixed Technique. I went on an internet exploration.
The next artist I came across for this technique is Brigid Marlin. She seems to be the Queen of the Miche Technique. She certainly is generous in sharing her knowledge and experience. Her website gives a great deal of information on how she creates her artwork including a step by step tutorial and her formula for egg tempera. I will not repeat all of it here. You can visit her website at: http://www.brigidmarlin.com/index.html .
In short this is how it works:
An ink drawing is painted over completely with a layer of red oil paint. The next day (when the paint is tacky) white tempera is used to paint the highlights, the lightest areas. She then paints a layer of yellow oil paint over the entire thing and then continues to refine the light areas with tempera being sure to let the tempera dry completely between layers. Then a layer of blue and more tempera. At this point she begins to block in the colors with oil paint.
The oil/tempera/oil layers give the painting a luminous, rich quality. Here is an example of her work:
The one thing that wasn't quite clear to me at the time how she used the tempera vs oil paint in the later layers. Through my own experience and experimentation I came to believe that while she uses white tempera for the under layers, she uses a variety of tempera colors in the later layers.
There were a few questions that arose in trying to learn this technique.
1. What is the best formula for the egg tempera?
2. At what point do you paint the tempera over the oil paint? Dry, tacky, or wet?
October 31, 2013
Im not sure if this is the proper way to do this but that's how Im doing it. So I have spent today experimenting with different combinations of egg tempera and oil layers at various stages of dryness.
A This one is cad red medium glaze w damar varnish/ linseed oil dried for 10 days.
B This one is Indian red but only because that is the only water soluble oil paint I have. I wanted to see if that made a difference but obviously if it has dried for a week its not going to matter.
C This one is cad red glaze with liquin (to speed drying) it was about 1 hour dry when I started.
D This one is Alizarin crimson straight but wiped out. It was about 3 hours dry when I started.
The egg tempera was all the same formula: 1 prt egg yolk, 1 prt linseed oil, 1 part water, 1 part vinegar. I mixed it with titanium white goauche. I just eyeballed the proportions of paint to emulsion. About equal parts seems to work.
Results:
So far, it seems to work best on the driest one, A. B had some strange reaction with the ink I used and made halos around the lines. Dont see any advantage to water soluble if its dry. Ill have to try a tacky one. C was pretty wet so the tempera tended to mix with the red, I dont think its supposed to be like that but i might be able to use it. Tomorrow I will do a layer and see if it sticks better than A. D was pretty much like C Except I think the liquin made C dry faster so that was actually better.
ONE THING: The biggest difference i saw was the texture of the surface. I rolled the gesso onto the panel and it was pretty even (kind of drywall texture) but it was still far too course for the tempera. I sanded C and D before applying the oil paint and that helped tremendously.
HAPPY HALLOWEEN!
