Herbarium 03. Passiflora incarnata L. Maenad with flowers, Greek mythology, fresco on the top board, painting on gesso, herbs, 2.4/5.1", 6/13cm

"Herbarium 03. Passiflora incarnata L.", Maenad top with flowers - egg-tempera on gesso-board

2.4"/5.1", 6/13 cm

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A couple of words about this work:

- Aged surface looking like a piece of a time-worn wall, but clean and safe. With all the fine relief, bulges, and chips you can see and you can touch with your fingers. You can observe how the light glides beautifully over the surface, flickering subtly along the microcracks, flowing over the texture.

- A piece of art you don't need to mess with - I don't paint right on the walls, the technique provides an opportunity to make portable and lightweight tiny "fragments of walls" on wooden boards.

- Very damage-resistant thing. In 20 years, you'll need only to dust it off with a cloth, and it's like new again. My method is based on an old icon-making technique that gives amazingly durable surfaces.

- This is a rather rare medium, in which only old-school artists work mainly. Besides, I combine several classical approaches in one to get the exact effect needed.

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The process is based on an old icon-making technique, which includes multiple stages:

- priming the wooden board
- covering the prepared board with several coats of gesso, waiting for each layer to dry, and creating a beautiful aged surface
- egg tempera painting
- varnishing the ready fresco