Thursday, March 19, 2009

Sanibel Underpainting/shale



I read that George Inness first stained his canvas with a light brown tint and when it was dry he took it on location and then drew with charcoal or pencil. Next, with more raw umber he would go over all the outlines. Then he would paint the lights and opaque parts and later, the sky. That would be a days work. The painting would dry and he would go on the transparent shadow the next day.
With that in mind, first did my value sketches. I am still working from my reference material from Sanibel. My photos are great because they are too dark so they really work only as compositional starts. I am able to completely create the color from my color notes or made up. On this one I will use colors I never tend to chose. (neutral browns/violets and a melon colored sky) working in this method takes a great deal of forethought. I realize now that I often would begin with a clear thought in mind..but later meander and become off target. I think for now on I will use a post-it tacked to my easel reminding me.
When time to arrange the underpainting I took a canvas and painted it with my new "shale" from Vasari (a beautiful violet/brown- with both warm and cool tendencies-Deborah's fav color). Now I will let it dry more before going in with a dry brush.

2 comments:

brian eppley said...

What a great adventure you're taking on. Nice description of the process. I'll bet the creative juices are really flowing now. Not that they weren't before!

loriann signori said...

That's right Brian, it's an adventure and I am loving it. The creative juices are flowing and the discomfort is ever-present. That's the way I like it...comfort teaches nothing. Right? ;-)