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We live in the beautiful northern corner of
Berks County, Pennsylvania. This region was originally
inhabited by the Lenni Lenape Indians. It was then
settled by German immigrant farmers in the 1750's.
They called this region the 'Allemaengel', meaning
'all wants' or 'all needs'. Since the land is rather
fertile, I can only imagine that the name refers to
its remote location from Philadelphia and Reading.
The land is rolling hills that abut the Blue Mountain or
'Blo Barrig' in Pennsylvania German. The mountain extends
close to 100 miles to the north east and is only interrupted
by gaps for the Schuykill, Lehigh and Delaware Rivers.
In Berks the Maiden Creek flows into the Schuykill River,
which meanders down to Reading and then to Philadelphia.
This waterway link was replaced by railroads in the 1870's
as a faster link to the commercial centers. There are numerous
pictures of railroad cars filled with the potatoes grown
in this region.
For these paintings I chosen to work in the ancient technique of egg tempera.
Egg tempera is made of egg yolk, water and ground pigments.
It is painted on a hard surface, such as wood, that has been primed with
an absorbent ground made of rabbit skin glue and chalk or whiting.
It was used by the early Egyptians and Greeks.
Rennaissance artists also used it till the advent of oil painting.
Byzantine icon painters continue to use it to this day.
The paint is applied int very thin strokes in multiple layers.
I like to think of it as weaving with pure colors.
By painting more slowly, I can achieve greater control and more luminous images.
Andrew Wyeth, Robert Vickery and George Tooker are among the more
prominent modern artists to paint with Egg Tempera. More information
may be found at the
Society of Tempera Painters website.
Click here to view portfolio.
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