I would like to gather some opinions on the use of white in fresco. Different artists and schools now and in the past have many variations on this subject. It would be great to gather these methods in one place.

Dear Admin

May I offer the following works as guides/information sources as to the use of white in frescoes:-

"Materials & Methods of Painting" by Lynton Lamb

"The Materials & Techniques of Painting" by Jonathan Stephenson

"Plastering, Palin & Decorative: A Practical Treatise on the Art & Craft" by William Millar (pub 1897)

"The Art of Fresco Painting" by Mrs Merrifield (pub 1846)

"Fresco Painting - Its Art & Technique" by james Ward )pub 1909.

In olden days the plasterers used to have a lot to do with mixing up the colours too so although some of the books I have listed would appear to be strictly plastering books there is some very useful information for artists too.

Let me know how you get on.

Suzie

I would like to obtain a copy of Merrifield's "Art of Fresco Painting as Practiced by Old Italian and French Masters" (1846).

Please leave me a message if you are aware of a source.

Many thanks!
L

Hello
According to my experience an easy and useful way is applying ordinary lime on the giornata toward the end of the day work when rest of the colors have already set. Mix it with some stilled water. Good luck.

Hi Yoram!

Can you be more specific? Please post the "step-by-step" directions that you follow.

Dear Admin
Use fresh lime at least one year old (preferable more). Force it with a puddler through brass sieve of about 50 mesh, mix with small amount of distilled water. Apply like usual fresco color, do not hasitate to use it more thickly in kind of a paste form, it dries like lime and stick to the intonaco. My advise is to use white generally in the end of the giornata because it presents its whitness beter at this stage and you can see what you are doing. After few hours roll over it with a glass bottle with light pressure.
Good luck

LAST EDITED ON 05-Dec-00 AT 09:54 AM (PST)

Hi Yoram!
I also use lime for the whites Bianco San Giovani to be exact (dried lime patty ground into powder mixed with water). But I do it differently. As I understood you paint the giornata like watercolor and then add white as a highlights? am I right?
I paint like it would be with the tempera or oils - add white into the colour mixes throughout the process, then on highlights at the end of the day. I grind "bianco" right before starting to paint and then in the middle of the day - lime "swells up" in a few hours and this is not good if mixed with in my colour tones. They become to "fat" and "drag".
The bottle rolling is a quite interesting method - it should work the same as pressing the fresco with the trowel after the painting? I am a bit hesitant to do this. Can you write more about it?

I would like to see your frescoes. Can you post an example at the "Gallery in the Cafe al Fresco (Art by Medium)" under "Frescoes" exhibition?

Here is a direct link.
http://www.truefresco.com/dcforum/DCForumID43/1.html#

Ilia Anossov

Hi Ilia
I call my method of using fresh lime for whitening "Bianco San Giovani For The Poor". To be more serious, I intend to present some examples of my works in the Cafe soon - I am still a new user of Internet and glad to find out that there is such an interest in Buon Fresco which according to my belief is not just another technique of painting but rather a way of life.

>according to my belief
>is not just another technique
>of painting but rather a
>way of life.

Hi Yoram,

I can sign under that, however I am a young fresco painter and would like to know your thoughts on this point.
You said that you have painted frescoes in schools and other public places, so I assume that you are quite busy painting just frescoes.
I have painted about 20+ of them, but only one that is really big (for our times). And I still have to paint acrylic murals to get some bread on the table.

Hello
To revive the discussion around the importance of developing new methods in the Fresco technique in general and using white specifically I present this example where a light paste of lime was applied on the boy's face in more of an "impressionist" style. The opaqueness turns in some years and gets depth and transparency. The detail is from a 5m x 4m commissioned work in high school in the city of Ashkelon in Israel. I present an earlier work on the Gallery (by medium) of this site and hope that more of you show works since visual art must be seen also by eyes after ALL.

Yoram,
I like your work.
I am not as acknowledgeable about frescoes as you all are.
What I have learned about the use of white is lime that is mixed with water and left to dry and then pulverised again and just used as any other pigment. It just takes some thinking ahead!
I spent a few months in Kibbutz Hatzor a hundred years ago!
Learned a little bit of hebrew.
Myriam