Over the past couple of years, time permitting, I've been working with casein paint. The reasons are many. For one thing, it's important to me to continue investigating media that aren't my usual, and casein certainly wasn't, given how uncommonly it's used these days. For another, once I began working with the paint I was surprised at how pleasing it is to use--smooth, matte, quick-drying but forgiving, opaque and richly pigmented. On the other hand, deep darks have been tough for me to achieve and casein penalizes overworking with muddiness even more than other paint. Nonetheless, some of the results have been great fun, which is what keeps me coming back to it.
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| "Cotton Candy," casein, 12x16, 2018 |
Over the last couple of weeks I've been working on one of the biggest casein paintings I've attempted--12x16--on illustration board. It's a painting based on a few sketches and personal reference photos taken at the Iowa State Fair last fall. The three food booths were in front of one of the show pavilions on the fairgrounds, and there were even more people in the photo than there are in the final painting.
I drew the complicated image first in graphite, taking care over proportions and perspective. When I was satisfied with the composition and the number of figures I started laying in casein paint, beginning at the top left and working across to the top right, painting in the top third. Then I went back to the middle left, painting across the middle third in broad patches while adding detail here and there in the top third. Eventually I moved to the bottom third and repeated the process. When the whole board was covered I spent more time on details like lettering, various figures and fixtures.
Casein paint continues to fascinate me and no question I'll keep making casein paintings.
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Previous posts
Milk Paint
Casein Investigations
Quick Sketching in Casein
More on Casein
Acrylic or Casein?
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