The old masters, working in the fifteenth century, used a painting technique – the so called ‘Flemish Technique’ – which combined the advantages of both tempera and oil paint. Egg tempera dries fast but has a matt finish, making it suitable for underpaintings. Glazes of oil paint add smooth transitions of bright, glossy colours.

Without more ado, and in the honourable tradition of copying from the masters, here is my ‘Portrait of a Young Woman’, originally painted by Hans Memling in 1480. This was started in a workshop led by David Cranswick.

Outline transferred in pigment on to a traditionally prepared gessoed board.

Mid tone supplied by pigment mixed with rabbit skin glue.Yes, the outline is under there somewhere, just visible with the eye of faith!

Verdaccio underpainting – starting to pick out the darks.

Darks complete

Now to start building up the light areas…

The underpainting, complete

The first glaze with oil paint!

Many more layers of oil paint are still to come – I’ll post a progress report in a week or so….