Distemper Project

Overview

Distemper painting is the simplest form of scenic paint where it is made up of size, pigment, and water.

Past Projects

During weeks 8 and 9 of the 2nd Term, the third year students took part in distemper project.

Distemper Workshop (Newcastle)

The following is a journal written by Megumi McKillop from when she had taken a workshop on distemper painting in Newcastle on August 2024.

Day 1

Not all methods demonstrated during the workshop may be historically accurate. This is because as small groups of scenic artists were moving across Europe and the Americas, variations of techniques were recorded over time. Materials available to each region play a part in its discrepancy as well.

Scenic painting is not an art installment; it is an interactive artform where the painting transitions under types of light and colour temperature. Paint medium allows for this interaction. You can learn from each different artistic medium as they serve as instructive tools. Techniques from each medium can be transferred to scenic art. For example, pastel is very forgiving and creates an atmospheric illusion. When using watercolour or gouache, you must consider the economy of brushstrokes and work in smaller scale before progressing to larger works. Acrylic paint’s speed of drying can be used as an advantage if applied correctly.

There are no hard and fast “rules” when it comes to mixing techniques and mediums. The layout, proportion, and value must be identified before painting. Proficiency in drawing is essential to produce good results.

The relationship between a scenic designer and a scenic artist hinges on trust. As scenic artists we interoperate their design.

Over the next three days we will cover colour theory, the economy of brush strokes, and materials used.

There is no one “correct” way to handle distemper painting. You can get distemper in 3 ways: powder; block (you’ll need to ground it before use); wet pulp.

Both pigments and glue can last for decades, if not centuries, as long as they are kept dry and free from bacteria. Setting up your palette is a personal process and can be adjusted over time to suit your preferences.

Cooking hide glue

Glue (or size) comes in a pallet form and stored dry. There are approximately 25 different grades of glues. When selecting size, look for qualities such as strength and clarity. Hide (rabbit skin) glue is recommended for its clarity. When cooking up the glue, use a ratio of 1:2 glue to distilled water. The size is initially mixed in room temperature. If time permits, let it sit over night to blossom. During the workshop, Wendy opted to use a glue pot; however, you could use a crockpot on low, a double boiler, or in a pinch, a microwave. Note that if using a microwave, it may affect the longevity of the size.

When cooking starch, you will start off with an applesauce like consistency. As it cooks and thickens, it will turn into a smooth honey consistency. If bubbles get introduced, that is when the size becomes overcooked. The final strength of working size is based on a pinch test: work some of the size between your forefinger and thumb and pull apart. If it makes a “pop" sound, it is ready. If it becomes too thick, it will turn into a gelatinous, gloopy form.

Once the size is cooked, use room temperature distilled water with a ratio of 10-14 parts cooked size to 1 part water. This size is now ready to be used and should stay in liquid form. Remember that it is organic matter and can mould if left too long.

Using distemper paint, the brushes will not be ruined, nor will the sinks not clog. It will not introduce unnecessary additives into the wastewater. As more females enter the scenic art workforce, there have been colleagues experiencing reproductive issues and bladder/ urothelial cancer. More study needs to be done; however, it may be from the overexposure of emulsion paints.

Scenic art weas never designed for static display; we are painting for light and for distance.

To use a minimal palette: start with the three primaries plus dark to alter the value. When considering the colour composition of your painting, alternate warm and cool temperatures in the tones (high, medium, low). When it comes to painting for theatre, there are no rules. The paint traditions and materials available in different geographical regions can be mixed for speed. Not only the medium but the substrate will differ across time periods and regions. Even with linen, it could range from flax linen, Russian linen, cotton linen, etc. If you’re lucky, the fabric may have a stamp on it. It is important to document and preserve the processes of scenic art. Remember, anything is paintable with the right primer. preserve the processies of scenic art. Remember, anything is paintable with the right primer.

Familiarize yourself with the dry pigment process and color swatches.

For the first project, we will divide the canvas into quadrants:

Mix pigment and the hide glue

Opacity and Value

Warm Colour Wheel

Cool Colour Wheel

Most historic paintings were created on unprimed canvases, which means that everything works as translucency. Do not use flame retardant on historic scenery. At least in the United States, historical backcloths fall under specific fire code criteria and are permitted to remain untreated with flame retardant. However, specific criteria must be followed.

For the purposes of this workshop, we are going to match value over the hue of the colour as the learning outcome is to get comfortable with the paint. With the continental method of painting that we will be covering over the next few days, we will be working from dark to light where: the dark identifies the colour, midt-one identifies the shape of the object and the lgith identifies the fabric type.

When it comes to decorative paint, scenic painting’s closest cousin would be fresco painting.

Each pigment color has a different weight. You will slowly start to mix distilled water into the pigment until it turns into a paste, making the granules disappear. Mix very well, as it will blossom if the dried paint is reactivated. When handling dry pigment, treat it as if it is toxic, as it is most dangerous in its powdered form.

Wendy demonstrating how to cook size.

I initially used too much size to paste ration when I first started experimenting with the distemper paint. I quickly started to mix in more paste into the bristles to opaque the fabric. For the workshop, Wendy and the team had purchased materials that were available in the UK: dry pigments (Haussman and Maryland) and rabbit skin glue from Flints, and cotton fabric with a looser weave than muslin (calico) that we are used to painting on. As something we will discuss more later, as scenics, we must be able to adapt to different or variance in materials. Wendy has commented that the rabbit skin glue was a lower grade than she usually uses, and the Flints pigments do not behave like her historic ones. Wendy amended the first issue by cooking up a stronger size.

Initial applications of the distemper paint. The left strip was painted thick to test its opacity. The right strip was to test its translucency. Note how much the pigments bled. It was concluded that this was due to the lack of strength in the size.

With the next colour (yellow) I decided to try and pack the pigments into the fabric. Although the yellow pigments successfully gave its desired opacity, they started to flake off once it was dried. It was suggested that I go over it with just size, either with a brush or with a pump sprayer. I found that the yellow pigment still rubbed off even after I gave the whole area a swipe of size with a brush. Like with any new medium an artist uses, we must go through trial and error to find the right balance to make the materials and the tools work for us.  

The sink that was available to us was very tiny and we could not get our 5-gallon paint bucket underneath its tap, we came up with an assembly system to speed up the filling process; a cup was placed under the tap and once that was filled, another person filled another cup under the tap while the first person was dumping their water into the bucket. Stanza, one of the workshop participants, without a scenic background, observed and commented on the speed and efficiency of how we work.

You can add pigment to the initial sizing step as well. Keep in mind that the first layer of pigment and size will dry back lighter.

Smelly size can be an indication of contamination or a lower grade. Lower grade size will have darker pellets mixed in.

Higher grade glue will not smell as much as cheaper glue.

When making samples for distemper painting, consider the fabric, thickness of the size, and the consistency of the pigment.

This image above shows Emily’s sample flat. Note the translucency of the fabric, allowing the hotspots from the houselights to shine through her fabric. The faint line midway on the image shows where Emily had laid down a second coat of the stronger size on the right side of the image before painting it with the distemper.

Day 2

Learning from yesterday’s experiences, we set up the frames with thick black plastic between the canvases thus showcasing the adaptivity of scenic artists yet again. Today, we will be diving into the water project. As we were given limited colours, Wendy emphasized the importance of getting the value correct over the hue when colour matching. For the painting to read well on stage, we must focus on the division of contrast and not overwork the colour blending. Both Wendy and I will set timers when there is a big project to be painted so that we can time manage better. Think like the Pomodoro technique. We were advised to apply the first pass of the base colour quite heavily.

The image above is the prime coat that I’ve put down on the canvas. The canvas was initially sized before this step. As I laid out the base colours, I didn’t focus on the specificity or the exact replica of the reference image. The participants of this workshop already know the colour theory, colour matching, and cartooning. What we are most interested in learning in the three days is handling distemper paint and getting the feel of the new medium. By removing the other objectives, we can better focus on the learning of distemper. As a learner of a new medium, I was put back in the shoes of an early career student, learning to enjoy the process of not exactly knowing where each step was going to lead me. This felt awkward at first but also freeing as I had a canvas where I can just play onto experiment with. I find, and I think other scenics may agree, that the first mark on a fresh canvas is always the most daunting one. But it’s the first mark that informs you which way you’re going. In the case of distemper painting, it was asking the mark if I needed more pigment or more size, and though not being overly precious with the colour hues, when studying the value, taking the time to wait until the paint dried back to reveal their true colours.

I finished the priming step much quicker than my cohort members and I wondered if I should have taken more time with the composition and colour matching. The below images show my canvas (closest to the camera in the first image) finished while other participants still work on theirs.

In some of her workshops, Wendy will get the students to swap their paintings halfway through. This method of teaching and learning allows the students to study where the low, mid, highs are in the underpaintings to extenuate their next steps. We let the background inform the composition of the painting. As such, we studied the values that we have laid down as our base coat and placed where the waves will go.

We determined where the crest of the waves should be, letting the base colours determine this.

The two images on the above left show the progression of laying in the highlights. The image on the right shows my palette at this point in the process. Note how the white’s brightness was knocked off by adding umbers to them. The contrast of the highlight to the base colour was tested on the far-right side of my canvas. The two tubs on the palette are size water. Not shown is the 5-gallon bucket of water under the table which I used to wash out my brushes when going between colours. I had constantly remind myself to dip the brushes back into the size water after rinsing or that the pigments will not adhere to the canvas. I endevered to manipulate the brush strokes to represent the splashes on the crest of the wave. Wendy repeatedly suggested to me to “roll the brush between my fingers”. I found this task to be difficult, until it finally “clicked”. Once it did, I had to restrain myself from going overboard with this step.

The above image shows the point in my process where the “rolling of the brush” hasn’t quite clicked yet. At this time, I was using a flat brush on its side and creating a check-mark motion.

The images below are taken after I understood the motion of “rolling the brush”. I had a lot of fun with it close to the threat of taking it overboard. Like most paintings that I execute, I called the painting finished before I felt content with it. If we do not give ourselves these hard deadlines, we can come to the risk of over blending the colours creating a murky painting. Especially when painting for the stage, we must be able to divide the tones (low, mid, and high). When transitioning from shadow to highlight, you also need a mid-tone for the highlight to not read grey or “dead”.

Day 3

Day 3 Drapery Project

On the end of day 2, we had taken down our wave painting, re-stapled the black tarp on the bits that had fallen, stretched a new canvas, and sized it before heading out of the theatre. This meant that at the start of day 3 we could jump straight into the drapery project. Michael and I at the top of the morning discussed how we liked the idea of not having to do all these prep work in the morning and that we can jump straight into the project. On reflection, I believe this was especially a good idea as our concentration levels decrease over the day and saving monotonous tasks at the end of the day to conserve the attentiveness of the morning.

There were a few reference images to choose from for this project. I chose the first image that took my attention, knowing that all images will have learning outcomes hidden throughout. The image I chose has two drapes; one light blue and classic red with golden tassels on both.

The image to the left shows my initial base scumble. I laid in the colours that I usually would if I was painting drapery: mid-tone base so that I can lay in the low and light over it. Wendy advised me to knock back the colours drastically. Again, feeling uncertain of exactly what the next steps were going to be, I took her advice onboard.

The image to the right shows a dark wash over the blue drape, and almost a solid burnt umber scumble over the red drape. Using the willow charcoal, cartoon the main lines that inform the cut lines and the folds of the drape.

I mixed up a warm payne's grey for the shadow of the blue drape. As a scenic artist who is usually accustomed to using paint buckets for colours, I was realizing how messy my palette was getting compared to the other participants of the workshop. If distemper painting is a discipline I’m going to investigate further, palette organization is something I will need to work on.

With the help from the guidelines I’ve drawn up with the charcoal, I started to lay in the shadows. The paint was turning milky as I applied the strokes, and it took me until I took a sea sponge to it that I realized my under painting was still damp. This caused the shadow colour to mix and turn blotchy.

After letting the paint dry, I tried this step again. I used a damp sea sponge to drag the paint to soften out the ends of the shadow.