In early October I visited a small informal group of artists, hosted and instructed by Brigid Marlin, in which I have been progressing my most ridiculously slow painting yet.

The technique being used is the mische technique – and for full details I again direct you to Brigid’s comprehensive website – which interleaves layers of white egg tempera (or a suitable and less capricious substitute) with transparent oil glazes of red, then yellow, then blue. On top of the blue layer, once dry, oils are painted directly but thinly… followed by yet more layers of white egg tempera (or substitute) and oil paint glazes which are used to unify some elements of the painting, pull bits forward and push others back. All rather more subtle and difficult to get the hang of than my usual method of bung-the-pastels-on.

Suffice it to say, it transforms the already time-consuming process of oil painting into something that takes me aeons to complete (I think I started it in January 2018). Given the time-to-achievement ratio, it’s probably not going to be a technique I specialise in – but I am really enjoying seeing this painting emerge…