Monday, October 4, 2010

experiments with the colors and details of underpaintings





It's funny to me that I am trying hard to get away from description and only paint the essence yet I am creating precise underpaintings. Seems counter productive, eh? You create to take away. I gradually etch away at the underpainting by creating a haze of air and losing more of the precision each time with each layer. That being said, I am experimenting with how much detail is needed to begin with and  how much  to leave. I also am working with the underpainting color. Note on the paintings above:
top: burnt sienna, transparent yellow oxide, and shale-early morning, early autumn, field Olney
middle:shale, slight addition of burnt sienna- nocturne, cooler, darker, tree Whidbey with path
bottom: all burnt sienna-dusk, distance warm, dark mass in front, next door field
I keep the notes so that I can remember. Since I am now working on up to 6 paintings at a time, it's easy to become confused.
Today is the day..my blog is 3 years old.

14 comments:

Katherine van Schoonhoven said...

Happy birthday to your blog!

Each combination of underpainting colors gives a very different vibration, doesn't it? The light is clearest in the top. Your shapes are always interesting and expressive.

Six paintings at once?! How do you keep them straight in your mind?

Janelle Goodwin said...

Happy third bloggy birthday! Yes, notes are so important. I started keeping color notes on every single painting and would be lost without them.

SamArtDog said...

Happy Birthday! Three-year-olds have the most fun. Old enough to walk but young enough to fly.

loriann signori said...

Hi Kvan, thanks for the birthday wishes. Six paintings can be good and bad. Good because one could be failing and another moving a long well. Balanced frustration. The notes help keep things straight . I also will take a little walk between paintings to clear my mind.

Hi Janelle! Thank you!
You do so well keeping track! Notes... how many do you have going at a time?

Hi Sam, "Old enough to walk but young enough to fly." I may use that. Thanks for the bday wishes!

Donna T said...

Thanks so much for sharing your underpaintings - it's always so interesting to see "what lies beneath" a painting. I love that first one! Happy blog b-day!!!

Ipskipskyblue said...

Happy birthday, blog! I remember the day you were born :-) I was happy to be a midwife, or doula, or something!

loriann signori said...

Hi Donna, Thank you..I too like looking beneath others' work. Thanks for the birthday wish!

loriann signori said...

Hi Domi! Yes I would say you were the midwife or doctor (since you continue with check-ups!) You have helped me and my blog in countless ways! We should have taken pictures when she was born!
Thanks! Loriann

Nika said...

Woo hoo, Happy birthday, Loriann's blog! We're so glad you're around and getting stronger by the day! Today is also my dad's birthday, a good day to be born:))

Lisa Le Quelenec said...

Ooooops I'm a day late! Happy bloggy unbirthday today, three years and one day.

Katherine Kean said...

Your underpaintings look wonderful and your idea of keeping notes sounds very useful. Congratulations on three years!

loriann signori said...

Hi Nika! Thanks you for the birthday wishes. Please extend the same for your Dad!

Hi Lisa! Thank you for the wishes!

Hi Katherine! I could only do it with the notes! Thanks for the birthday wishes.

Jala Pfaff said...

Happy 3-years old, Blog!

I like these, especially the first two.

Brian McGurgan said...

Congratulations on three years of blogging, Loriann! I love these underpaintings and, like Jala, particularly admire the first two. The middle one looks like a nearly complete statement to me with such a beautiful composition and that warm sienna.