Executed in the luminous medium of egg tempera, these new works celebrate the beauty of the British countryside, and offer an idiosyncratic (and often bird’s eye view) of the counties of Somerset, Wiltshire, and Dorset.
Born in Wiltshire in 1956, James Lynch is a self-taught artist who has mastered his favoured medium of egg tempera. Employing the same technique as his medieval forebears, he prepares the gesso ground of his pictures by hand, painting successive coats onto panel before stippling the final layer for a slightly rougher surface. The hens which populate his Somerset garden provide the egg yolks needed for a painting, which he mixes with pigments and a little water. The numerous layers of this fast-drying medium retain their transparency, allowing light to filter through and reflect the white gesso ground below, imbuing each picture with a rich luminosity.
