2. Table of contents
• Definition..........................................................................................................3
• History...............................................................................................................4
• What are murals made from?............................................................................5
• What are frescoes being done on?....................................................................6
• How to make a frescoes in steps (1,2,3)...........................................................7
• Subject matter of
frescoes................................................................................10
• Fantasy in the
frescoes.....................................................................................11
• Subject matter of fantasy frescoes...................................................................12
• Frescoes - stories and fairytales for children - photos.....................................13
• Frescoes - legend and myths - photos..............................................................14
• Fantasy frescoes invented by the author..........................................................15
• Fantasy frescoes on the floor - „Street painting”.............................................16
• Frescoes in
3. Definiton
Fresco- is any of several
related mural painting
types, done on plaster on
walls or ceilings. The
word fresco comes from
the Italian word affresco
which derives from the
Latin word for "fresh".
Frescoes were often made
during the Renaissance
and other early time
periods.
4. History
The most famous are Minoan frescos with religous, plants and animal
motives and mysterious tauromachies on (scenes of the fight or games
with bulls). In XIV and XV in real murals, that is buon fresco (made on
fresh and still humid plaster), have been figurehead quite rarely. A partial
fresco was more popular, that is al fresco - after drying they were making
alterations with the help of organic dyes. An intense development of the
fresco has taken place from Giotta. The most popular frescos were in
Renaissance. After the baroque the mural was a technique given up. From
XVII to XIX in. al fresco were mixed with al secco.
5. What are murals made from ?
• the first layer amiciato
• slaked lime
• chips of bricks or stones
• coarse sand
• the second layer intonaco
• slaked lime
• fine sand or marble dust
• rainwater
7. How to make a fresco in steps(1)
1.) Full scale detailed compositional rendering - cartoon should be developed and
pounced tracing made.
2.) Color study should be created, it will be used for mixing right color tones and
general color reference.
3.) Plaster has to be prepared a few days in advance (the earlier the better - lime
needs time to "adopt itself to the sand and gain plasticity) in proportion of 8 parts
extra fine sand to 5 parts slaked (pitted) lime or so with the least water possible.
4.) Panel must have three coats of plaster put on previously with intervals of 5 days
in between the coats or "wet on wet". (scratch, brown/rough/float (arriccio), coat
names reflect the grade of sand - coarse, rough, fine). After preceding coats are
completely dry, depending on the size of the panel 2-7 days, an "Intonaco" - final,
painting coat is applied on the day of painting. In the beginning it is better to use a
ceramic tile and only 2 coats "Arriccio" (base coat) and "Intonaco" (actual painting
coat).
8. How to make a fresco in steps (2)
5.) It helps to grind the base pigments with water into the paste
in advance storing them in sealed glass jars, this way in the
morning (before the painting begins) will be more time to
prepare tone mixes. To start try about 12 different colors. Use
freshly ground dry lime mixed with water as white (pigments
mixed with lime and lime mixed for whites can not be saved) all
mixes should be done ONLY with distilled water. The best
working pigments in fresco are the earth oxides and other
mineral pigments. Some pigments will not work with lime plaster
at all - some man made greens change to yellow as being mixed,
so as many other modern day pigments except the ones that
specially formulated for the use with plasters. Test the colors in
advance by mixing little portions of them with lime, also most of
art supply stores should have reference material on traditional
fresco palette.
6.)Use soft long bristle brushes of various sizes round and flat.
7.) After the final intonaco (painting plaster coat) is applied, it
should be left for about 20min to settle. Before starting painting
make sure that plaster is firm to touch and will not dent if
pressed with a finger.
9. How to make a fresco in steps (3)
8.)Tracing from the cartoon pounced along the lines with needle or pouncing wheel is laid over the
plaster and dusted over with charcoal or simply incised (pressed along the lines) by the opposite end
of a thin brush to provide the base guideline for the painting process. The under-painting is done with
terra verde (green earth pigment) with shadows enhanced in umber (picture on the right) or with other
colors, but remember in fresco it is not possible to completely paint out a "wrong" color therefore
every tone should be carefully planned. Another thing to remember is that plaster behaves differently
during the day - it will need more water in the tones at the beginning and the end of the day then in
the middle and do not keep to much paint on the brush - it will result in "blobs" squeeze it slightly
between the fingers before touching the plaster.
9.)The end of the day for the fresco painter is the most pleasant stage the plaster enters what is
sometimes called "the golden hour" - painting is 3/4 done and plaster is in it's best stage. Time to
finish the detail pickup and blend color tones by passing over and over with lairs of transparent color
at (this stage the color mixes should be "wet" again). Painter must work fast and precise at this stage
because "golden hour" also means that plaster will soon "lock up" - stop receiving paint (the paint will
change to much lighter opaque tone as soon a it touches the plaster - that is it put the brush down!).
One thing to remember is that in the next seven or so days following the painting the fresco will be
undergoing the curing stage and this is a confidence test for the Artist. Colors dry at different speed
and plaster is naturally compacted unevenly although it looks flat and perfect changes to white faster
in more compacted areas. These are to of many other factors that make color in fresco change into
discouraging cacophony for the first few days after the painting is finished. But do not worry in about
7-10 days it will look even more beautiful and just a little lighter then the day it was painted.
10. Subject matter of murals
• Religion
• Fantasy
• Plants
• Animals
• Views
• People
• Emotions
• Different situations
11. Fantasy in the frescos
Some people like very
much to paint the
fantasy murals. They
show creatures
(dragons, trolls, magic
animals) , situations
and places from films,
books and myths. They
do it in different places
and different technics.
Effects of them work
are amazing.
12. Subject matter of fantasy frescoes
- Situations, creatures,
animals, places and
people from:
-Stories, fairytales for children
-Legends
-Myths
-Invented by the author of the
fresco/mural
-On the floor
17. Frescoes in Poland
The most famous Polish frescoes are in :
-Chapel of the Saint Threesome in Lublin
-The Tower in Sedlęcin
-The Church of the Saint Elisabeth in Wrocław
Chapel of the Saint
Threesome in Lublin
18. Why do we make a frescoes?
We are participants of
Comenius. It’s a project
funded partially by the
European Union. Comenius
is concentrating on different
types of a wall painting, m.
in. exactly murals. A few
schools are on a project
from various countries – of
France of Italy and Sweden.
This project is divided in 3
stages. In first we are
acquiring the knowledge for
the theme of epics and
presentations. There is also a
first exchange – students are
coming to Poland from
other countries.
