TRUEFRESCO TECHNIQUE

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  In our Studio we try to follow medieval methods of TrueFresco wall-painting. Here we put a short story about our methods of work, - just some essential points:

   Once my friend Alexander Karnaukhov, - an artist, known in many countries for his mosaic decorations, said for me such a phrase, that I loved very much - "mural painting is the breath of the wall". 

I think this to be really very truthful thought and if we try to see the medieval christian images from this point of view, we may notice, that their miniatures, icons, frescos and mosaics were in harmony with the ambiente, - with the architecture, they have been done on. 

And working in our days in our Studio we also try to maintain this harmony in every our work, as in frescoes so in icons. Practically, when we have a concrete subject to be done on a concrete place, before doing anything on the wall or a board, it is important to See, what This wall or board, (or, better - this "place" or "space") really needs to be painted on it, What a Composition, Colours and so on. 

So, we part not from a ready model (reproduction) from a book or somewhere else to be copied onto a suggested surface, but we try to comprehend the place itself as the real and active base for the
image. 

So, if we speak about murals, it is important to make this new detail of church interior (or exterior) to be active part of arcitecture decoration, but from the other hand it has to be done in a very correct way, maintaining the harmony, projected by the architect. 

The fresco work "on the wall" itself is not much time-consuming, because the real "truefresco or Buonfresco can be done only in the short period of time (some hours) while the plaster on the wall is wet and absorbes colours. So, before working on the wall I make some various sketches for detailed studio of the model(s), so, to be ready for work without mistakes on the wall. 

Preparing the wall for work, - usually we try to take off the old plaster, or, if it is very much resistant, for example like strong armoured cement, we make holes, so our plaster may hold well on the wall. After that we put the first layer of plaster onto all the surface, planned for fresco. On this first layer I make approsimative drawings of what is going to be painted here. 

So, when all the preparation work is done, I put the second layer of plaster and paint the image I planned. Having done all the needed sketches and studios before it is much easier to work on the wall, but anyway here is present one more difficulty - change of colours. The matter is, that the lime, when absorbes colours, getting dry, makes its crystals enter in the layer of colour and when the plaster dries, makes some colours become lighter, and some colours not. So, when you work, you may just imagine how they will change, and it is very important to calculate the final result. But even if it is difficult, this feature is an essential one for fresco on wet plaster, because it makes the colours united with the wall, so fresco technic becomes much more resistant to rain and snow. 

So, we have some our frescoes, painted more then ten years on external surfaces of churches, open for snows and rains, but they do not get distroyed and do not change at all in these years. 

As for the prices for this work, it usually comes calculated for square meters of surface for painting. Fresco technic is a very cheap one, in comparison with icon-painting. For example in our Studio, cost of one square meter of fresco wall-painting costs from 120 to 170 euros. This sum includes cost of painting materials and painting work.

Philip Davydov.