Fresco Workshop - Second Day Instruction and Work

Pigments Prepared, Ready and Waiting

Today we concentrated more on grinding the pigments before mixing them with water, as yesterday, we were painting a cartoon and today we paint buon fresco ("buon" meaning "wet" as opposed to "secco" meaning "dry"). No need for a binder, such as gum arabic used to make watercolor, as the chemical reaction fuses the wet pigment and the lime. The paint needs to be ready as there is no time to waste when we start painting the fresco.

Heidi Transferring the Image by Incision

We made more plaster by mixing the lime putty with sand and knocking that up, saturing the plaster on our panels with water so it would accept the final layer of plaster, the Intonaco, putting that on, smoothing air bubbles out, floating it and allowing the plaster to set enough that incising the image would not disturb the plaster.

It was interesting that some of us had over-saturated the initial plastered surface, running into issues with drying time, and even a few situations where the intonaco was removed and a new intonaco layer put down. My layer was too thick, so I spent time scraping excess plaster off. One of the best parts (although frustrating at times) of a workshop is having problems arise and "hands on" problem-solving.

Detail of Incision and First Background Application of Paint

As you continue painting these initial layers fast, all of a sudden, there is a tangible difference in how the surface accepts the paint. There is no resistance; in fact, the surface embraces the paint, and it's as though the painter, pigment and plaster have gotten to know, respect and trust one another. Suddenly "the dance" enters another dimension.

Until Tomorrow