COLIN FRASER: Finding Freedom in Constraint

Scottish painter Colin Fraser is a master of egg tempera, an ancient and demanding medium that he finds freeing

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Dry pigment mixed with egg yolk is fast drying. Once a linear brush stroke is laid down, it can’t be changed. He says, “Tempera is so rigid you can’t improvise with it. There’s a set method and you have to accept it. But this rigidity frees you up to accept the marks you make without trying to alter them.”

The individual, translucent brush strokes lay side by side and atop one another, melding into images of soft flowers and fabrics as well as the textured surfaces of tables and glistening reflections. The luminescent qualities of the medium and Fraser’s skill fill the paintings with light that appears to emanate from within.