by Toni Watts | Mar 11, 2014 | Blog, Materials and Techniques
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...
by Toni Watts | Feb 15, 2014 | Blog, Materials and Techniques
Silverpoint is a lovely medium to use, but it is difficult to achieve really dark darks. I have long suspected that the depth of tone that can be achieved has something to do with the ground used to prime the paper. Spurred on by a conversation with David Cranswick...
by Toni Watts | Feb 7, 2014 | Blog, Materials and Techniques
I had a fantastic week in London last week, extracting natural pigments from various plants and stones. These are the pigments that would have been used in the past, before our synthetic colours were discovered as by-products of the industrial revolution. The...
by Toni Watts | Jan 20, 2014 | Blog
Tonight is the Eve of St Agnes. According to folklore, if you follow certain rituals before going to bed, you will see your future husband in your dreams. So what rituals should you perform? Well, of course, that depends on...
by Toni Watts | Jan 12, 2014 | Blog
Odd hands in medieval manuscripts How do you draw attention to a line in a book you want to remember? Underline it? Stick a ‘post it’ note by it? Nothing so mundane for the medieval reader. Have a look at this – Now...
by Toni Watts | Jan 5, 2014 | Blog
So, we welcome a new month and a new year. January used to be when we bought a calendar, which, with four of us at home, never seemed to have quite enough space for our separate comings and goings! Now the girls have fledged, I confess we have gone all high tech, and...
