A study of the process of making luminous paintings in the style of the Flemish masters (Hugo Vander Goes, the Van Eycks, Dirk Bouts). The first half is devoted to exercises for understanding stages of the technique: underpainting on a gesso ground, methods of applying layers of egg tempera, and oil resin glazes. Thereafter, students apply Renaissance techniques to their own subjects. No prerequisites.
ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR David Small is a painter who holds a BFA from UMass Amherst and an MFA from MassArt. His work has been shown nationally and internationally. Exhibitions include: Mills Gallery at Boston Center for the Arts; Brockton Art Museum Triennial; Castle Scholz-Reichenau, Austria; Franklin Silverstone Gallery, Montreal; and Vanderbilt University.
My name is David Addison Small. I'm a Boston artist. I teach for the Boston Public Schools
and I also teach Renaissance painting techniques at Mass College of Art. I teach both the Flemish
and the Italian Renaissance technique. It goes to 16 classes. It's called the Mish technique.
Mish means mixed. We're going to be working with both egg tempera and oil paint. So that's the
first part. The egg is the variable. It could be a giant egg, it could be a little egg, but it's
the variable. We use Dye-My-Varnish, linseed oil, mineral spirits when we use our oil paint.
Now this is not the paint. This is the medium for the paint, for the egg tempera. We'll be using
white egg tempera to create highlights and to establish form. We'll be painting the white into
a wet oil paint. First transparent earth red for the Flemish technique and then for the Italian
technique, earth green Terra Verde. So this was all green. The whole thing was green and you have
to imagine this, but I'm sure you can. This was all earth green. When this was still green, I took
cadmium red, I patted it down. The tempera is amazing. Immediately you can see the temper
coming through and I haven't gone back in with the temper again. But while that red was still wet,
I then went back in with tempera. Not everywhere I did before, just the highest levels and I'm
playing with what's underneath. So all of a sudden I have great form. Anyone can do this technique.
Everyone is capable of doing it, from those who've painted incredible murals and encaustic
paintings and watercolors to those who've only worked in little watercolors when they're in
fifth grade. Everyone will benefit from it. The wonderful thing about this technique is control.
Before I went over and learned this technique, I'd say one out of five paintings would cross
the finish line and then the others wouldn't. Now whatever painting I start, I know I'm going
to finish and I know it's going to be beautiful because the technique is foolproof.
