Egg tempera painting

Egg tempera paint is made from ground up pigments mixed with an egg binder. Traditionally only the egg yolk only is used as a binder. However, there are also recipes that use both the egg yolk and the white.

Where possible I use natural pigments with non-hazardous or low grade toxicity ratings.

I then apply the egg tempera paint to a wood panel or a stretched canvas, prepared beforehand using handmade gesso. The gesso gives the paint a surface to adhere to and the whiteness of the gesso can help give a greater luminosity to the painting.

A review from Anna on the commission of Tom & Ginny:

I was given a Kirralee Fisher painting for my birthday.  It was specially commissioned for me – which I think in itself was just wonderful.  The painting is amazing.  It was based on several photographs of my two cats which she somehow managed to weave together into one composition such that you could believe it was painted from life.  It has a real softness to it because, cleverly, she used egg tempera paint.  This also has a really lovely sheen and a slight texture to it which works so well for painting animals.  I think the thing that most impressed me was how  brilliantly she captured their facial expressions and “characters” in the picture.  Generally speaking I am not particularly fond of animal paintings because I think its so difficult to really capture both the look and the essence of the animal, and as a result they’re often disappointing.  But my painting both looks right and more importantly has the right feeling to it.  I know how careful she was to check all the way through the commissioning process that she’d captured these things and I think its probably this, as much as being such a talented artist, that made my painting so special.  I can’t thank her or praise her highly enough.