About the Artist
I've been interested in art all my life, a great number of my family are artists, writers, photographers, etc..
Coming from an artistic group of people, I always felt I had talent but did not start to paint with any seriousness
until 1994. At that time I felt I needed to get on with my dream of becoming an artist or forget it entirely. So
I made some financial changes in my life and picked up a paint brush.
Much has happened on that four year journey but the most impact was a class I took on egg tempera. Although I do
some work in acrylics and a traditional form of oils, my real love has become and old masters style of using egg
tempera to create chiaroscuro. The handling of values that gives a painting a three dimensional quality is fascinating
and rewarding.
I have entered extremely few competitions, so as of yet I have no significant recognition in that area. But whether
or not I gain recognition from an art critic is of no importance to me. I get all the gratification I need when
someone finds pleasure enough in my work to purchase a painting or print. Sharing the experience of my painting
with someone else creates a bond with others, even strangers, that I find self satisfying.
The Painting
The best way to describe the painting I do is to use an Italian term, chiaroscuro, which simply means the use of
lights and darks in art work. Chiaroscuro involves the handling of values from white to black and determines the
degree to which the painting achieves a three dimensional quality.
This type of painting was first documented in the early 1400's by Italian painter Cennino Cennini. The renaissance
artists achieved chiaroscuro using dry pigment "tempered" with water and a fatty binder, (egg yolk),
thus tempera painting. Unlike the tempera's of the renaissance, I use a mixture of linseed oil, damar varnish,
& gum turpentine with my dry pigment and egg yolk. These added ingredients create a pigment that is usable
on both canvas and masonite without the cracking that occurred with egg tempera during the renaissance period.
I first paint my entire picture in black and white values using dry pigments and egg yolk mixture. This is the
most important part of the painting and requires exactness. One improperly placed brush stroke will draw the eye
to that imperfection when the color glaze is applied. This process also requires a lengthy dry time. Color is then
applied after the under painting is completely dry. I use thin transparent layers of oil paint, layering colors
on top of each other.
The prints I sell are photographic reproductions of both egg tempera and conventional oil paintings I have done.
They are reproduced with quality and exactness of color and are ready to mat and frame. Each "featured"
print is also available as a canvas transfer. This is a procedure that permanently fixes the print to a stretched
canvas making it difficult to establish from an original piece.
- Frances Carter
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