Step Two: The Under Painting

Having an accurate drawing before I start the under painting allows me to concentrate more on the values rather than both the composition and drawing plus the values like I use to. I had stated on an earlier post that I could skip the process of drawing on the canvas first. At that time I was using vine charcoal and the drawing was not that good, so I would have to spend time correcting the drawing. I know now that accuracy is the key for this process.

Step One: The Drawing "Butting Heads"

Here is the start of my next painting. It is hard to see but if you click the image you can see a larger view. This canvas is a 16” x 20” the lines represent the division using the Golden Ratio. The right eye of the facing Springbok is located at one of the Golden Means of this rectangle.

Plein Aire

Today a watercolor at Bambino’s painted on 140 lb 5.5”x 8.5”.

Plein Aire

Today’s painting a 5” x 7” was done at the Japanese Gardens at Nathaniel Green Park.

Wildebeest Painting Is Finished

Painting In The Background

I’m still working with a limited palette, but here I have replaced the Burnt Umber with Cadmium Orange. The orange when tinted with white brings out the yellow and from that I can mix up a green using the Ultramarine Blue. Because I’m using complementary colors they look good together and with mixing I can get a full range of colors with harmony.

First Color Lay In

The Underpainting

The composition was scaled up from the sketch, by drawing on the canvas with a graphite (HB) pencil. I’m using a medium texture double primed canvas, and it is like drawing on course sandpaper. However the drawing is not for detail, but only to place the elements in the composition. The underpainting allows me to add some detail and values to strengthen to painting.

Making Art

This is a section of a sketch for my next painting. It was scaled down to be one third the size of the 24” x 36” canvas I will be painting on. The section lines I used here for the composition will be the same on the canvas making it easy to scale up the drawing, and allow me to make some adjustments to the original sketch.

Opening Day SPA

I always like to get out and paint, and today was the first gathering of the SPA (Springfield Plein Aire) painters. About 30 artists made it out to paint, talk about art, eat, and show off the work we did over the winter, good stuff. The elephant painting was well received and I won the wildlife category, but the little 5" X 7" painting I did of the clown salt and pepper shakers I was told, topped it.