The Resistance of Materials

egg tempera on panel, 16 x 23 cm, Dawn,

I was listening to Start The Week on Monday http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09tc4fy as I drove to life drawing.  Tacita Dean used the words, 'material resistance' and it stuck in my mind.  

I could see chemicals developing a black and white print in a photo tray; the viscosity of ink on a brush being laid down on a zinc plate; the colour of pastel on a page in an altered book; plastic, sticking, bubbling, melting and of course paint: colours on a palette or egg in pigment, the way the brush drips and pools the paint… How could I use this resistance to do something more?  Is the way the materials resist at the heart of why I flit around them?  And then, how do we go beyond resemblance to something else using the chosen material? This week has been about that.

Above, the egg tempera began in the 2 1/2 hour session at my portrait group on Wednesday. When looking at it at home I could see a resemblance to Dawn but I wanted more and the media had been used to capture what I could of her without being used in a way that made more of the medium. 

Thursday, in the studio, with the panel, a clean palette, a slightly eggy egg, some fresh pigment and a few photos;  I tried to find a way to use the media to bring Dawn to life.   

Akua Intaglio on zinc printed on Rives Lightweight with spoon

Last night at the NEAC drawing school session, I had my zinc plate and a slightly wider array of Akua intaglio colours than usual. How is this media different to the egg tempera and how could I use it to share my experience of the model in 45 minutes, in time to catch my train back to Suffolk?