Panel Painting Techniques
On this page you will see some of the steps involved in painting your own panel. It is very difficult to show the full technique in such a small amount of space, this page is intended as a guide to give you an idea of what you will be doing on Peter's course.
The method used was first described by Cennino D'Andrea Cennini, in his famous 15th century treatise on painting techniques, "Il Libro Dell Arte".
The process begins with the preperation of the board and then painting it with several coast of Gesso, a process that needs to be done several days in advance (prepared boards will be available to you).
The next stage is to draw your image and transfer it to the board. Next any areas that are to be gilded must be painted with a special liquid clay called bole, this acts as a primer for the gold leaf.
The gold leaf can now be applied, small pieces at a time. It then needs to be burnished, this smooths out any wrinkles and makes the gold shine. When the burnishing is finished small punches can be used to make decorative motifs such as flowers or crosses.
The next stage is to mix the dry pigment with a mixture of egg yolk, water and a little wine. This mixture is used to paint the non gilded areas of your panel.
After a few days finishing touches can be applied to your icon, gold leaf that comes on transfer paper can be used to make gilded patterns on the robes. An acrylic size is used to enable the gold to stick to the icon.
The ragged edges of the gold leaf is then cleaned up with a soft brush and your icon is complete.
You can read more detailed instructions on icon painting techniques on Peter Murphy's own web site by clicking here.
Course Schedule
Techniques
