During the late Middle Ages, painters like Duccio di Buonisegnia started to use green as a base colour to give the flesh tone a more realistic look. Before him, iconographers used green as the undertone for skin, and this tradition continues to this day particularly when painting in the egg tempera technique.
Especially appropriate for the painting of holy images in which we represent the human being enlivened by the light of God, egg tempera starts with a wash of dark, deep colours. On top of these, the lights are built up in layer after layer of white and coloured washes.
In the picture above you can see the panel with the myrrh-bearing women. The sealer has been brushed on, but the gold has not been applied yet. The garment of the woman on the left received the first layer of color while on the other two, the underpaint is still visible.
Marys garment is a dark maroon color at this stage. In will change with
each successive layer of paint. It is very exciting to see the image
transform itself in the most unexpected ways even to myself!
Mary's face has received the first lights!
In these two picture you can see how I am building up the first lights on the face of St. John.
These are the two central panels. Your beautiful cross will hang in the middle, between Mary and John.
In the panel on the right of St. John is represented the Centurion Longinus who pierced the side of Christ and was the first 'pagan' to reccognize the divinity of Christ.
