Told largely in Pictures

I have recently finished the series of diptychs: DETOXIFY-ME, using egg tempera for the first time and recording the work in progress. 
To make the exterior of the fourth diptych: THE CURE FOR MADNESS, I wanted to set a medallion-style copy of Bosch's "Stone of Folly" on a faux-leather background. 

I began by coating a poplar box with several layers of gesso (whiting and rabbit skin glue), sanding each layer smooth. 

To establish the main tonal changes in Bosch's painting, I mixed Indian ink washes of various strengths and blocked out the design.

To create the faux leather effect. I overlaid layers of darker colour with light. In the process, I learned that tempera is much stickier than oil paint, it dries unexpectedly.

While lighter layers were still wet, I blotted them with crumpled tissue paper and scrunched up carrier bags.

I usually use ready mixed paint from tubes so mixing up raw pigment from scratch was an adventure. This lovely pigment is green earth.

It's a pressure trying to do justice to Bosch. I made concerted efforts, but struggled to get tempera's famed 'jewel-like' effect. I gilded the frame around the medallion with yellow-gold leaf. 

 In the end I decided that Hieronymous would have to settle for a textured and less than jewel-like tribute.To seal the box, I sprayed the surface with fixative and added a thin, temporary varnish. 

As ever with a new medium, I felt simultaneously frustrated by my lack of mastery and excited by the different ways tempera behaves. When making the exterior of the second box, SHOCK THERAPY, I began to play around with scratching into the gesso surface with an old school compass, creating a faux-snakeskin texture, then washing semi-transparent colour into the grooves. I will definitely be using this medium again.