Artist finds opportunities in a unique medium
- Font Size:
- Default font size
- Larger font size
By Katie Vaughn | Saturday, September 08, 2007 |
When Stuart Roddy sees an egg, he doesn’t necessarily think breakfast. He envisions how that innocuous food can help him paint a scene featuring the Mississippi River or downtown Chicago.
The artist from Sterling, Ill., by way of Laguna Beach, Calif., creates artwork using egg tempera, a type of egg-based paint with a history dating to the Middle Ages.
“You’re really using the yolk of the egg,” he explained.
To make the paint, Roddy mixes egg yolks and water until it reaches the desired consistency — which can be as translucent as watercolors. He also adds pigments to achieve different colors.
Few painters work in the medium, but Roddy encounters a handful of egg tempera artists each year.
“They’re out there,” he said. “It’s a medium where if they know about it, they care a lot about art.”
Roddy discovered egg tempera when he attended a demonstration on the medium at the Art Institute of Chicago. He had recently earned a master of fine arts degree from the University of Illinois and was working in etchings.
It was the similarities he found between etchings and egg tempera paintings, particularly the importance of line, that appealed to him.
“It’s almost like a colored drawing,” he said.
The fact that even the first lines drawn in an egg tempera painting are visible suited the direction in which Roddy’s artwork was progressing. Whereas the artist’s early work sought to represent nature in a realistic manner, he has since loosened up his approach.
Roddy now keeps colors and brushstrokes in a composition even if they’re not replicated in the environments upon which his landscapes, cityscapes and river scenes are based. He thinks of these more recent paintings as a merging of artist and subject matter.
“I think they’re a lot more about the energy and characteristic of the brushstroke,” he said.
A teacher at Sterling High School and Sauk Valley Community College in Dixon, Roddy regularly participates in art fairs such as the Riverssance Festival of Fine Art, which is scheduled this weekend, Sept. 15-16, in the Village of East Davenport.
Larry DeVilbiss, co-director of Riverssance, said 100 artists will display their work at the juried festival, which celebrates its 20th anniversary this year. Artists from nearly 15 states and Canada will showcase paintings, prints, ceramics, glasswork, leather, wood pieces and more.
“It’s really practically everything,” he said. “There’s a really wide range of prices, too.”
Live entertainment, a wine garden, food vendors and a children’s art tent will round out the festival, he said.
Katie Vaughn can be contacted at (563) 383-2282 or kvaughn@qctimes.com. Comment on this story at qctimes.com.
If you go
What: Riverssance Festival of Fine Art
When: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 15, and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 16
Where: Lindsay Park in the Village of East Davenport
How much: $3 for 12 years and older, free for 11 years and younger
Information: (563) 386-7013
del.icio.us
Digg
NewsVine
Fark
reddit» More Arts Leisure Stories
Highest Rated Articles from the last 7 Days
- buy garden decor
- Canadian Tire has quality and affordable garden décor items. Shop now.
- www.CanadianTire.ca
- Home Interior Decor. Big Selection. Low Shipping
- We bring you the best quality home accents at the lowest price.
- www.dyhomedecor.com
- Discount Patio Furniture
- Tired of Paying Retail? Patio furniture at wholesale prices.
- www.DirectPatioFurniture.com
- Ads by Yahoo!
