Hyperrealism with Tom Mulliner

Resins and Varnishes: Dammar, Mastic, Synthetic Resins, and Conservation Risk Day 10: The Chemistry of Binding Agents How shimmering Old Master glazes and sharp-edged modern acrylics share a surprising, sticky heritage—and why conservators debate their future. Dammar Mastic Acrylic Key historical and modern resins: Dammar (Dipterocarpaceae trees), Mastic (Pistacia lentiscus), and a stylized synthetic acrylic resin block. All are transparent but vary immensely in chemistry and behavior. Sources: National Gallery London, CAMEO (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston) Dramatic Entry: When Art Needed a Shield Imagine Venice in the 17th century: oil paintings, lush and luminous, exposed nightly to soot, smoke, and sticky hands in candlelit salons. Their salvation? Limpid films of natural resin varnish, painstakingly applied by artists or specialist "verniciatori...

Day 9: Oil Painting Practice—Fat Over Lean, Grounds, Mediums, and Failure Modes Masterclass Series: The Chemistry of Binding Agents A Dramatic Evolution on Canvas Early morning in a 16th-century Venetian studio: the scents of linseed oil and fresh gesso mingle. Painters here obsess over technique—one mistake, and the Madonna’s blue gowns crackle before the patron’s eye. Fatal flaws haunt even the masters. Art history’s most dramatic technical advances, from Jan van Eyck to Titian to today’s conservators, stem from a deep understanding of oil painting’s treacherous physical chemistry. Gesso Ground Thin Underpainting Fat Over (Rich Paint) Classic layering: gesso, absorbent grounds, lean (thin) underpainting, and fat (oily, resinous) upper layers—each layer designed to manage drying, movement, and chemical change ( Getty Conservation Institute ). ...

Linseed Oil in Depth: Oxidation, Crosslinking, Yellowing, and Strength On a windswept morning in the heart of 16th-century Antwerp, workshop assistants poured golden linseed oil, shimmering in the cold north light, into earthenware jars. This humble seed oil, pressed from flax, would become the unsung sinew behind some of the greatest masterpieces of human civilization—from the glowing depths of Rembrandt’s portraits to the physical endurance of van Eyck’s panels. Today, we open the molecular door to linseed oil: its chemistry, history, timing, and the practical truths every studio—and every conservator—must know. Egg Tempera Linseed Oil Acrylic Polymer Low Flexibility Moderate Flex/Strength High Flexibility Binder Flexibility Comparison: Linseed oil’s unique balance of moderate flexibility and strength is central to its success as a binder in historical oil painting techniques. (Adapted ...

Day 7 | Drying Oils: Why Linseed, Walnut, Poppy, and Safflower Behave Differently The Chemistry of Binding Agents: From Egg Tempera and Linseed Oil to Modern Acrylic Polymers Linseed Walnut Poppy Safflower Four major drying oils in artists’ painting: linseed, walnut, poppy, and safflower, each with unique chemistry influencing color, drying rate, and longevity. (Original infographic) It’s 1434. The ultramarine blue of Van Eyck’s Madonna of Chancellor Rolin (Louvre) glows almost freshly-mixed. Yet, centuries of pigment brilliance depend on a battleground we rarely see: the humble drying oil. What made Van Eyck’s medium behave differently from a later, Turner sky or a minimalist 1960s acrylic? The answer lies in ancient seeds, chemistry, and perhaps, in your studio practice today. Chemistry of Drying Oils: Foundation of the Film All drying oils are tri...

Gum Arabic and Watercolour: Polysaccharides, Flow, Rewetting, and Light Binding Agents Masterclass, Day 6 Gum Arabic Watercolours Winsor Lemon Alizarin Crimson Binder for pigments Gum Arabic: The invisible force binding pigment into luminous watercolour washes. A glassy polysaccharide resin, it mediates pigment flow and transparency. ( Source: Tate, 2024 ) It is late 18th-century London— The botanist Joseph Banks returns with exotic acacias. By candlelight, chemists extract a sap so versatile it will write, paint, and even sweeten medicines: gum arabic . To this day, nearly every watercolour—Turner’s vaporous sunrises, Cézanne’s crystalline washes, and your own palette—owes its shifting, rewettable luminosity to this unassuming exudate from wild trees. The Chem...

Day 5 — Casein: Milk Protein, Alkalinity, and the Forgotten Workhorse Binder The Chemistry of Binding Agents • Masterclass Day 5 Egg tempera taught us that proteins can make paint precise. Animal glue showed how collagen can prepare a surface. Casein brings the protein story into another register: milk chemistry. Long before “modern” water-based paints became normal, casein offered artists, decorators, designers, and mural painters a tough, fast-drying, matte paint made from a milk protein that becomes useful only after chemistry unlocks it. Casein paint begins as milk protein chemistry Casein is a milk protein. In paint, it is made usable by alkaline treatment, then binds pigment into a matte film. Casein milk protein Alkali makes casein soluble pH↑ Paint Original infographic: casein p...