Hyperrealism with Tom Mulliner

Drying Versus Curing: Evaporation, Oxidation, Coalescence, and Time Intensive Daily Masterclass — The Chemistry of Binding Agents Egg Tempera Linseed Oil Acrylic Polymer Three classic binders, three distinct pathways: Each relies on a fundamentally different chemistry for film formation. (Masterclass original visual.) The Timeless Wait: From Smalt to Synthetics It’s 1506. The golden light dancing on the wet oil glaze in The Mona Lisa is not just Leonardo’s mastery—it’s chemistry teased by time. Five centuries later, an acrylic dries within minutes, but centuries-old oil still slumbers, slow-curing deep beneath its crystalline glazes. Today, we untangle how binders truly “set”: is it mere evaporation, full chemical crosslinking, or something more subtle? Understanding the Underlying Chemistry Drying involves a physical process : water or solvent evaporates, leaving pigment an...

Pigment Volume Concentration: Matte, Gloss, Underbinding, and Strength Daily Masterclass in the Chemistry of Binding Agents — Day 17 Dramatic Historical Opener: Venetian Secrets and the Revelation of Shine In the candle-lit ateliers of Renaissance Venice, painters like Tintoretto and Veronese manipulated the subtle dance between velvety matte and mirror-like gloss. Their secret was not only in the rare pigments they sourced but in the calculated ratio of pigment to binder—what modern chemistry terms Pigment Volume Concentration (PVC). This variable governs a paint's appearance, durability, opacity, and touch, making it a keystone of both historic and contemporary art practice ( Tate Papers ). High PVC Balanced Low PVC Infographic showing blocks of paint with high, balanced, and low pigment volume concentration (PVC). High PVC yields matte finishes, balanced offers optimal properties, and low PVC results in gloss. C...

Checkpoint: Build a Taxonomy of Visual Illusion Masterclass Day 6 — The Constructed Eye: Visual Illusion, Perception Science, and the Work of Kitaoka & Lotto Luminance contrast Figure-ground Diagram illustrating two principal types of visual illusions used in taxonomy construction: luminance-based (left) and figure-ground (right). Taxonomy coding is foundational for advanced visual experimentation. Adapted from field standards (Kingdom & Prins, 2016). Expert Objective Today's objective is to construct a professional taxonomy of visual illusions, synthesizing historic, contemporary, and experimental categories. This taxonomy is to be operational ( i.e. , guiding for advanced perceptual studies or studio innovation) rather than simply descriptive, following the orientation of Kitaoka and Lotto's research ( Kitaoka, 2005 ; Lotto, 2003 ). You will differentiate illusions by observ...

Supports and Grounds: Absorbency, Movement, Sizing, and Adhesion Day 16 of The Chemistry of Binding Agents Masterclass "Canvas and Board: The Art Beneath the Surface" In 1503, Leonardo da Vinci stretched a wooden panel to receive the now-iconic Mona Lisa . Meanwhile, Venice’s shimmering lagoons were inspiring Giovanni Bellini and Titian to abandon temperamental wood for tightly stretched linen canvas. But what made these supports — wood, canvas, or modern acrylic panels — so critical to paint chemistry? The answer lies in the subtle interplay of absorbency, movement, sizing, and adhesion. Today, we peel back the painted surface to reveal the science and spectacle of the artist's foundation. Support (Wood/Canvas/Panel) Ground (Gesso/Primer) Sizing Layer (Glue/Polymer) Paint Layer Structure of a Painted Support: Layers from bottom up: the support, an isola...

Kitaoka and Lotto: Comparing Research Approaches in Visual Illusion Science Visual schema contrasting Akiyoshi Kitaoka’s pattern-based and Beau Lotto’s context-based approaches in illusion research. Expert Objective This masterclass day examines how Akiyoshi Kitaoka and Beau Lotto differ in their experimental strategies, priorities, and conceptual frameworks when probing visual illusions. Our focus: What can advanced artists learn from the science not only about perceptual effects but about the mechanisms and empirical constraints shaping visual work? Art-scientific practice requires critical rigor in testing illusions both perceptually and physically; today’s lesson delivers the analytic clarity and studio relevance missing from surface-level illusion tutorials. Observed Effects: Contrasts and Contexts in Illusions Kitaoka’s corpus centers on systematically varied geometric and chromatic pattern illusions, including the Rotating Snakes and peripher...

Day 15: Mixed Media Compatibility: What Can Safely Sit on What?  Masterclass Series | The Chemistry of Binding Agents: From Egg Tempera and Linseed Oil to Modern Acrylic Polymers Dusk, Florence 1503: Leonardo da Vinci peers at his half-finished Mona Lisa. Layer upon layer, oil on tempera, innovation clashing with tradition. His trials anticipated the mixed media puzzles modern artists still confront today. The historical roots of mixed media compatibility run to the Renaissance and earlier, framing today’s studio debates in a continuum of creative and technical daring (cf. Cotte et al., 2008, Louvre). The Chemistry Involved: Like Dissolves Like, Layers Need Logic At the heart of media compatibility lies chemistry’s golden rule: "like dissolves like". This ultrashort phrase guides whether an acrylic glaze will bond safely atop an oil underpainting, or if egg tempera's mineral rigidity can accept a polymer topcoat. The binders’ molecul...