Nude a week 15: Nude on a fresco tile

A lime fresco of a seated nude painted on a roof tile.

Here's a back seated view painted as a small fresco on a roof-tile about 11 inches by 5 inches (28x12 cm). It was painted as a lime fresco using pure pigments. The colours used were ochre, burnt umber and Prussian blue, used in a translucent way. The colour of the pure lime plaster shows as a soft white mainly across the shoulders and buttocks. All three colours are used wet in wet making subtle cool and warm flesh tones. All painting is done while the lime plaster is wet.

Frescoes should not fade or darken. The colour is fused into the wet plaster. As the plaster dries it binds the colour and the colour becomes permanent. Frescoes can last for over 1,000 years.

I originally painted this picture in Grass Valley, California. You can see more about my fresco work in an earlier blog Jeanie paints frescoes.  Below is a picture of the sort of roof tile I used and another example of my fresco work - a picture of a camellia flower from the lovely tree in our garden that is flowering at the moment..

For those who want to try frescoes there is more info and a chance to buy instruction DVDs at www.frescoschool.org/

A fresco I did of a camellia flower

 

 

 

The sort of roof tile used for the fresco