Working practice

The technique of painting fascinates artist James Lynch and his exquisite use of egg tempera as a medium is a vital part of the success of his work. ‘My early work was gouache on paper, but the egg tempera paintings I’d seen in the National Gallery seemed to glow with a light that came from within. I also saw David Tindle’s egg tempera paintings in the Royal Academy and I became more and more curious about the medium. Seasoned hardwood was traditionally used as a support but I now use MDF, which is stable and does not warp. I coat it front and back with eight layers of gesso and for larger works I glue muslin front and back using rabbit skin glue. I know that MDF probably has chemicals in it, but I have sealed the board completely with the gesso. I enjoy preparing the boards, as it’s all part of the studio process, and I like to create for myself the perfect surface on which to work. I then give the whole thing a coat of thinned tempera, usually cadmium yellow, which both seals the surface and acts as a coloured ground.
‘That done, I square up my drawing and transfer it to the board. Drawing is an essential part of my work – I have the composition right in the drawing before I can tackle a larger picture. I sometimes photocopy my pencil drawings so that I can play with the composition without damaging the original. I then start to lay in the composition using manganese violet, French ultramarine and burnt umber. This produces a fairly warm tone, which gives warmth to the colours I apply later and also appears when I scratch through the later layers of tempera, which I do towards the end of the painting process.

The Hedging of the Cuckoo, egg tempera on gesso-coated wood panel, 36x38in (91.5x96.5cm)
‘This painting was inspired by an amusing tale from the Wise Men of Gotham in the Middle Ages, who supposedly hedged in a cuckoo to prevent it escaping in order to keep spring with them all year round and so ward off winter.’

Materials

‘Tempera is made by mixing egg yolk with pigment and some water. We have five hens in the garden and I use their eggs for painting – I can use up to four a day if I’m working on a large picture. I use a fairly limited range of pigments: French ultramarine for the distances in my landscapes and cobalt blue for the sky, often mixed with a little burnt umber to tone it down. I also use Prussian blue, which I mix with burnt umber to create the equivalent of black, a colour I do not use. I have both cadmium yellow medium and dark and use two greens, viridian and cadmium. I find manganese violet very useful for underpainting and mixing, and I use a lot of zinc white, which I mix with other pigments to give them more body. I buy my pigments from Cornelissen & Sons in London.’

Cumulonimbus Clouds with Field of Rape, egg tempera on gesso-coated wood panel, 18x22in (45.5x56cm)
‘I like the garish yellow of rape against the blue of the sky and the soft green English fields and hills. It’s quite a spectacle. I have flown over this landscape many times, and know it very well from below and above.’

Inspiration

James occasionally travels to France and Italy, but he is never inspired to paint in either country. His subject matter is drawn entirely from his experience of the Wessex countryside and its way of life. ‘My landscapes are often inspired by flying or by the thought of flying, but I also cycle and run regularly along the drove roads across the moors, often accompanied by a barn owl at dusk. I used to leave telegraph poles out of my pictures, but I’ve come to realise that they will probably soon disappear, so I see them now as a relic of the past.‘

Swallows over Camelot, egg tempera on gesso coated wood panel, 33x42in (84x106.5cm)
‘This view is painted from an aerial perspective, as if flying with the swallows.’