A TECHNICAL DEFINITION OF THE FRESCO MURAL PAINTING

THE PROCESS OF THE LIME: THE PAINTING TRANSFORMS IN STONE

Fresco mural painting is a pictorial procedure of thousand-year-old tradition that already we find documented in the books of the Roman architect Vitrubio. It consists of applying, on a before equipped wall, a layer of lime mortar (formed for hydroxide of calcium and sand) and to apply the mineral pigments water dissolved  down while this one keeps wet.

The process of the lime mortar corresponds to a cyclical process of transformation of the stone in three stadiums to come back to its original condition from four elements: earth, fire, water and air.

The lime mortar is obtained of the limestone, rock of sedimentation formed based on carbonate of calcium. Through  a process of boiling in ovens to approximately 900 º C of temperature, it forms oxide of calcium. This one, steeped in water, forms a paste of hydroxide of calcium that is used  as base for the elaboration of mortars. With his application to the wall for the accomplishment of the fresco paintings, and in touch with the carbonic anhydride of the air, the hydroxide of calcium will suffer a chemical process that will make return it to his primitive stadium of carbonate of calcium, and will fix the pigments to his surface becoming a dull and insoluble painting to the water, resistant, of pure pigments and of a great chromatic intensity.

WHAT SUPPORT DOES NEED A MURAL FRESCO PAINTING?

Fresco mural painting must be realized on a before determined and prepared support. The wall where the mural is located, so, must be determined and levelled by lean mortar of lime in a proportion of  one part of lime and three parts of washed sand. The application of the final coat is realized by the artist in the same moment of the execution of the paintings.

TECHNICAL PROPERTIES OF THE FRESCO MURAL PAINTINGS

-Of mineral, inalterable nature to the degradations of the light.

-Economic, due to its  long duration.

-Transpiring.

-Permeable to the water steam.

-It petrifies with the support forming carbonate of calcium.

-Resistant to the atmospheric agents.

-Low trend to get dirty.

-Ecological, not pollutant, odourless and not toxic.

-Non-combustion material.

-Water resistant

-Dull aspect.

-Not allergic.

-Solidity and luminosity of the mineral colour pigments.

-Ideal for painting in interiors and exteriors, according to the architectural conditions.

ARTISTIC QUALITIES OF THE FRESCO MURAL PAINTINGS

-Procedure of long historical tradition, recognized specially by the high visual quality of the colour pigments, which stays mineralised in its surface without any type of cementing agent.           

-Great chromatic intensity, with transparent and opaque tones.

-Singular process of application, which turns him into a fascinating procedure for the artists, because it  requires a high capacity of resolution and decision in the pictorial work.

-Social dimension of the paintings, as link of union between the artistic creation and the public.

FROM THE IDEA TO THE MURAL: EXECUTION PROCESS

-Preparation of the wall.

-Accomplishment of the project: preliminary sketches.

-Definition of the project.

-Accomplishment of the “sinopias” in the study of the artist.

-Accomplishment of the fresco: application in the same place on the wall of the final coat with oily mortar of lime and execution of the painting of the corresponding day while the mortar is keeps wet.

MY OWN CONCEPT ABOUT FRESCO MURAL PAINTING: ALIVE PAINTING

Fresco mural painting corresponds to the last phase of construction of the walls, is the last skin of the wall, a very ancient technique that we find documented in the books of the Roman architect Vitrubio.

I paint fresco murals because of I feel authentic passion for this procedure: I prepare every day the  work to realize, with all the materials: the lime mortar and sand, the pigments, the paintbrushes, the water, the sketches and the tools.

On the scaffolding, I apply and smooth the lime mortar  on the fragment of the wall that I have foreseen to end this day, I stencil the lines, and finally I paint on with beautiful pigments dissolved in water with a direct, determined and fast way when the mortar is still wet. A  chemical process of the lime mortar will fix the pigments, with a result of dull and insoluble painting to the water, resistant, of pure pigments, of a great chromatic intensity, transparent and opaque, incomparable tones to any another procedure.

To paint frescoes,  I use a scale of pigments, a very fine texture pigments, that necessarily have to be compatible with the lime. A work like that needs a great physical and mental effort. I have to be capable of feeling every wall and every arch of the architectural space to give to the paintings a symbolic content, an architectural function and to arrange visually the espace according to the intentions that the work needs.