Painting on Location
BUON FRESCO TILES

by Donald A. Jusko

BUON FRESCO PAINTING #39

Painted From Life, Don Jusko, pg9

FIVE BROMELIADS, TWO LILIQUOI

Thioindigoid Red PR88, cinabrese, cadmium orange, cadmium yellow, phthalocyan cyan PB15.3 and titanium white.
10-1-4, 6:15 PM, Start painting.
10-1-4, 7:00, Five Bromeliads laid out. First I painted on a layer of cinnabreze and left open areas as it's a very dense pigment. Very simple light strokes marking the top, bottom and two sides. I stayed with the big strokes throughout the painting.

drawing


10-1-4, 9:15, Finished
10-3-4, I washed the fresco and all colors have been absorbed and are permanently in place.

wet finished


The Red Bromeliad
12"x12"

The red hue is amazing, thioindigoid Red PR88, cadmium orange, cadmium yellow, Cyan PB15.6, titanium white.
I made and applied this intonaco yesterday at noon. I let it dry for six hours in the open after laying it. This would have been the prime painting time, but I was called away.
I wet it and wrapped it about 6:00 PM and am painting it 12:00, 24 hours later. There were 3 air bubbles. The air bubbles set up a different drying pattern. The inside of the bubble dries as well as the surface. The pressured air and the set mortar and wetting it down again caused mini explosions. I dug out the bubbles and put in new intonaco. For the rest of the fresco I was barely able to bring slip to the top. I knew I wouldn't have a lot of painting time.

drawing

finished wet


I'm going to do some decorative turpentine and wax work on it in the morning.

finished wet

Because I'm working secco fresco in wax now I'll take the full range from Cad. Orange, Thioindigoid Red PR88, Irgazine Red PR254, D.S. Quin. Red to Quin. Magenta PR202. It's still a nice fresco underneath but with some Irgazine Red added that I forgot during the buon work.
You have to get the right angle to see the gloss, but you know how much deeper you see into a gloss, it doesn't show up in photographs.

Wax and turpentine secco in the sun


2 LILLAQUOIS

10-8-4,
8:45. I'm working on a panel Steve Ladd of the PoL Forum sent me, it's fabulous! I'm soaking it to lay the intonaco now.
I can't believe how light it is, and strong.
Here is the information I have on it, 1/8 galvanized lath imbedded in 70% white cement 30% lime plus Structolite. Is this right? What percent Structolite and what type of store has this great product?

Steve Ladd Panel

I painting a fruit called Passion Fruit with it's vine and leaves. It's also called a lillaquoi. It's slightly tart and mostly liquid and seeds inside. It makes a great drink with sugar and makes lillaquoi meringue pie.
9:45, I'm waiting for the slip coat to dry. The idea is to get this 1:1 intonaco moist enough so a bristle brush can work it into the dry rough coat. Working the density just right, build this slip coat up until the surface is level. When you touch it with a dry finger nothing comes up, 45 minutes, it's time for the rest of the intonaco. There could be another step in this intonaco. A thin marble dust layer, paper thin, 1:1. Apply this layer and polish it.
11:15. The intonaco is on and smooth. The real smoothing will be when it gets a little harder, maybe ten minutes. Not that it couldn't be painted on right now.
12:15, It's smooth now, but still too moist to paint on. Steve's panel really holds the water well.
3:00, I've watered it twice already, it's ready to paint now.
Instead, I'm going to add a glossing layer, 1:1 marble dust.
3:30. A smooth paper thin layer of a extra top coat with very little included water. The lime itself is dense enough to cut with a knife.

Marble dust top coatDraw with paint

3:35, So I'm painting. Titanium white, Naples yellow, bismuth yellow, viridian, thalo blue, vermilion and PR202 magenta. I haven't received my PR122 magenta from Sennelier yet.
4:07. First picture background one coat. #1" Langnickle Nocturna series 6080
4:25 second pix, that was a fast brush. Switch to a #9 series 7 W/N, a lighter tighter brush.

1 coat of background2nd coat on background

4:36, third layer of pigment on the background.
6:00 switch to a #7 series 3A W/N. Close to finished. My leaves are drooping but my intonaco is still going very strong, it just passed the stage where I could still melt the surface, I can rest my hand on the fresco now. Absorption is immediate. It's a shame I'm done, I could have worked so much longer.
6:50. Finished.

Finished

7:30. Brushed on a layer of lime water, nothing moved, the brush is clean. It's a buon fresco!


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