Tempera Painting Demo & Artists Reviews

I painted this sketch using Master Class tempera very quickly, trying to capture an array of ancient grey rocks in the bright rays of the summer sun. Once upon a time, millions of years ago, these rocks probably had sharp, chopped outlines, but since then time has made their silhouette smooth, leaving only the edges on the cliff cut sharp.

Tempera is an absolutely unique paint, it is suitable for artists who like oil, acrylic or watercolour. The most important difference between tempera and oil is that it is diluted with water. Tempera is slightly less dense than oil, but it can make a pasty stroke.

To paint the tiny details and refinements you can’t use a marker when you work with tempera, the surface of the paper is covered with wet paint, a marker gets stuck in it and gets spoilt very quickly, that’s why I use watercolour pencils, these are usually 10 basic colours.

Unlike oil paints, Tempera dries much faster, but still allows you to paint the artwork picturesquely. And unlike gouache, when painting in layers, the lower layer is not blurred.