Maroger Oil Painting Medium
Commissioned Project for Reverend Robert & Myrna Hodge
Commissioned Project for Reverend Robert & Myrna Hodge
step 3. in the Made 4 -U- series
Preparing a Canvas for a "Special Place" Painting
Maroger Oil Painting Medium.
Jacques Maroger (French pronunciation: [maʁoʒe]; 1884–1962) was a painter and the technical director of the Louvre Museum's laboratory in Paris. He devoted his life to understanding the oil-based media of the Old Masters.
When oil painting, I use maroger medium currently created by Joshua Fallik studios.
I have used other marogers, and always find his to be superior. It is extremely important the medium is prepared correctly, any errors result in a serious loss of longevity for the artwork.
Maroger's formula and techniques are used by modern painters who wish to obtain the paint quality of the Old Masters. The "secret formula" that Maroger devised during his lifetime included the main ingredient white lead. White lead when cooked into linseed oil acts as a drying agent and preservative of the oil paint layers. If one examines the 17th century master works closely you will find the paintings are in good to excellent condition, after 500 years, contain the critical chemical white lead. Litharge, in the Maroger medium acts in the same way as lead paint (used to be) used outdoors. It stands up to dirt, weather, fading, humidity and other forms of damage. Maroger introduced to the modern day artist what the master artist achieved centuries before in their paintings, a way to ensure permanence and color quality in oils without sacrificing fluid and subtle paint handling. And without Lead.
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| PAINT BOX © Kara Rane |
These paints survived the Caribbean! If there is any place that will challenge stability and longevity it is the natural elements of Vieques Island. Nature will win. Hot! sun, eroding sand, mold & more mold, hurricanes (done.), insects GIANT, decay, tsunamis, birds, humidity, rain-like-buckets, us humans, all are destructive to any man-made objects. Laughable to create anything you expect to survive here. So I locked my oil paints up in a box. The paints had done enough traveling and work already, they deserved a rest.
I wanted to use materials that reflected my surroundings and oil paint and the Caribbean did not connect. I tried watercolors, not durable enough to withstand the attack. A few more months passed and life became very local. Internet, cell phones, the postal mail, all became more of a hassle than a convenience (technology on this island is impossible!). Let it go.
That is when I noticed the only art supplies available locally (besides Creations coconuts*) were children's 10-pack Crayola markers. They are vibrant and fun, easy to carry around outdoors, and non-toxic. If handled carefully, they might survive the battle of Nature. So for a couple years, I created with markers and Anything else available- old rubber tires, house paint, glue (crazy glue holds the island together!), discarded bottles, beach wood, gifts from kids (thank You), rope, scissors-blades (gotta make stencils...), crayons,
When overwhelmed with nostalgia, I would open my paint box to be welcomed by the familiar scent of oil paint and maroger. For an oil painter, the smell is heaven.
When overwhelmed with nostalgia, I would open my paint box to be welcomed by the familiar scent of oil paint and maroger. For an oil painter, the smell is heaven.
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| Toned Golden Canvas © Kara Rane |
Toned Golden Canvas for Myrna's "Special Place" painting.
When preparing a canvas, I remind myself again of the materials' rules, for oil painting the most important is Fat over Lean. This meaning you must use more medium (less pigment) as the foundation of an oil painting. Each successive layer must have less medium and more pigment, otherwise cracking, flaking, and loss of longevity are certain.The paints I used are: Old Holland Red Gold Lake, Old Holland Transparent Oxide Red Lake,
Old Holland Yellow Ochre Deep, and Windsor Newton Cadmium Yellow Pale Hue.
Myrna had asked for a happy, spring time painting of a Spanish style courtyard, so I toned the canvas sunny yellow and terra cotta, for a warm underpainting.
Made 4 U : "Special Place" series, *stay updated* please join me.
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