I use water tempera and egg tempera. Tempera as an artistic medium, enables me to combine my painting experience and my fascination for the aesthetic of Chinese traditional painting. At the same time, it also functions as a link to blur the barriers between tradition and contemporaneity. Using tempera also gives me the opportunity to fully grasp the softness of this medium and its property to be applied in layers. Conversely to the technique of painting directly on the canvas with oil colours which gives an immediate and instantaneous feeling, tempera is applied through a slow process and its texture is characterized by a sweet aftertaste, like tea. When looking at a tempera painting, the reflection is not direct as in the case of oil painting: on the contrary, it is glossy. The process of working with tempera is long and various. First of all, different layers of colors need to be applied to create the base. Then it is important to polish, to make sketches, to engrave lines, to produce on daily basis material for the medium. Once the chromatic nuances are balanced, the layers of color need to be applied thinly layer by layer. After multiple layers, the images are more concrete and definite. Before drying, tempera can be washed off and wiped off, once it is dried, it is extremely stable and resistant. After tempera is dried, it is advisable to use a clean piece of cotton to polish the surface of the painting: the beautiful texture is the result of different layers applied throughout time. The visual effect achieved through the usage of oil painting which is applied in a more direct way is different from the one achieved through tempera even if the same layering process is adopted.
Artists like Van Gogh and Kiefer represented sunflowers: they have a unique and multifaceted beauty both in individual detail and in their wholeness. They are brilliant and magnificent during their growing process, when they are mature, they display dropping flower heads and some parts withered into sunflowers. Regardless of their condition, their branches are straight and the leaves have a graceful carriage. Mature sunflowers seem to nurture life: in my representation of sunflowers, I also incorporate my observation and my perception of women.