retro fave post- underpaintings, the wisdom of Richard McKinley

 9x18 pastel and watercolor on Uart paper
I am home. Back to the wonderful heat and humidity of the DC area. I am not being sarcastic. I do love the heat and humidity. I did miss the way it makes me feel loose all over, relaxed.
This is a painting I did at my fave field on Whidbey Island. I never did post it when I was away. I have so many from my  wonderful trip. Some I like, some I don't like. Some that can use a little space and maybe a little work. This is one that I decided I like. With it I post some of Richard's wisdom about underpainting.
Just for your information, Richard usually works on white Wallis paper. It takes the watercolor splendidly. Keep in mind that sometimes Wallis paper is a little irregular and repels watercolor in an orange-peely way. It's important to mount it and museum grade is best for watercolor.  (You can buy it mounted at Dakota Pastels) Instead I usually paint on Uart paper. There is no need to mount, I just tape it down. The effects are slightly different and I find I have to use Chinese White (a watercolorist's nightmare) if I want bright white on the dark Uart. It is a wonderful, predictable paper. I love it! Another aside note- this is a link to my post about my watercolor palette. Just in case you missed it.

Underpainting Wisdom from Richard:
"In an underpainting you need to be disciplined. With it you place you "meat and potatoes" (odd to say for a life-long veg). You do this so that you can put the dessert on top. Think about what marks you want to place on top.
Paint from the shoulders. Make gesture. 
Don't get edges in an underpainting. Instead choose later where they will be (focal point.) Have just a few colors dominate your underpainting. Save the other color for later."

 Below is Richard's underpainting done at Rosario. WOW! It was even better in person!

Richard says,"Nudge it."
"When you begin your pastels start incrementally. Let your underpainting shine through...you can always put more on later."

finished jewel

Now that I am back I will make time to visit every one's blogs and see what I have missed. I really did appreciate all your comments during my long trip. It was really nice to quickly check in and read what everyone was thinking. In addition, I loved meeting two of my blogger friends: Lisa and Casey. In fact the day before I left Washington I was in Edison viewing an exhibit that my blogger friend Lisa was part of.  Birds. She had two beautiful oils, done in a jewel like way. She glazes and makes beautiful translucency.

Art is not what you see, but what you make others see.

6x6 oil inspired from small pastel

7x3 pastel from memory

I continue my small works on twilight. (These are the baby "models" for my large works.) The idea of creating the glow color of a luscious sky can mean creating a darker balance in the land. Knowing this, I still try to do it in other ways, with little success. The contrast of sharp and unfocused edges make a little more mystery and strengthen the diva. Practice, practice.  I find that I need to do the "same"painting over and over varying the underpaintings  and the layers as I search for my idea to clarify before going bigger.

It's funny, last week a visitor to my studio was remarking about one of my paintings. She said,"Wow, what a beautiful place that is! It must be nice to paint there." I decided not to tell her that the view was next to a dumpster in the mall parking lot. We are the creators of illusions, ideas, and beauty. I instead replied, "Yes it is beautiful with the morning light. I love being in that place" While my statement may sound false..... it's not at all. I do love being in that place, even if most of it takes place in my head.

This brings about another great quote.
"Art is not what you see, but what you make others see." Degas

And last but not least, thank you to all my new (and old) subscribers and followers. When checking my stats this evening I was astonished and delighted! Thanks for taking the time to stop by, look and read!!!

benefits of a limited palette

12x24 watercolor

The benefits of a limited palette can not be over stated. I at least start out with one in the underpainting. Paint is an easy way to limit your colors yet still make so many more. Pastels are a little trickier. Yes, you can choose a few sticks, but you have still eliminated many many combinations that still fall with the limited palette.
This underpainting has 5 tube colors, cad yellow, cad orange, cerulean, cobalt blue and ultramarine blue (plus white);it is essentially two color families-complementary colors.  It's the set-up: value plus the colors that lie underneath.
So pastellist, have I convinced you to try a paint underpainting?
Tomorrow you will see the pastel portion.

PS I received a wonderful email from a subscriber  today. It made my day! Here is a quote from her email:
"I have over a thousand books about art and painting in particular. Your work is more helpful and interesting than most of these books. You "reveal" many artists' secrets and remind those of us with quite a bit of experience of the things we have forgot. Please do whatever is necessary to get this book one of the books on  my shelves. What you say and illustrate is particularly of great aid for pastellists."
Thank you so much Linda...I don't know about a book. We will just continue this journey together!
PPS This is another memory painting of my field.

the sky, bacteria and pastels

9x12 pastel and watercolor on Uart

Another memory painting done completely by James McNeil Whistler's guidelines:

*watch a scene, then turn your back and in words describe in detail. If you have someone with you have them correct if you are wrong. Do this till it is secure in your head. No photos or sketches.

* Wait at least 12 hours, allow the scene to be created in your head

* Paint, using only that memory. Your knowledge and understanding of light will stream in and guide you.

Yesterday's painting was a sunrise, today's painting is a sunset. Notice how different the colors are from sunrise to sunset. A deeper warmer orange is present at sunset. I wanted a golden orange glow, but I also wanted the dusty grayness of the moments after the sunsets to be present. The watercolor was the gold, although I completely covered it with new pastel color of oranges or golds. Your underpainting affects everything about the painting, even when you cover it. Not one part of my underpainting is peeking through. The underpainting guides your heart and sensibility about your goal. Underpaintings are like your skeleton, they support the painting even when they aren't seen.


On another note, I have received many emails from fellow pastel painters worried that pastels were the cause of my infection. I want to put your creative lungs at rest, pastels did not cause it. A bacteria, similar to TB, grew in my lung. Still the pastels most likely aggravated and added stress and junk to my lungs, making it easier for the bacteria to grow. The disease's ability to grow also had a genetic component. It wouldn't grow in most lungs. The bacteria is actually available in the aerated water (read from a shower head) and dirt (read gardening) in everyday living. Will you get it? Probably not, but why not use it as a wake-up call to create a safer studio. Wear a mask indoors when using airborne particles (or get a artists air filter.) Choose safer products...read labels, research. Spray fixative and varnish outdoors. Keep all of your painting rags in a metal, air-tight container. Always cover gamsol, turp, and all mediums; do not allow them to permeate your air.
Stay safe, paint happy.

new underpainting

Two versions, same painting... I wiped this underpainting off a million times- one right after another, all day yesterday. I couldn't stop myself. I didn't want brush strokes so I relied on a tissue rather than a brush. It needed small areas of value change in the tree mass and sometimes it was too much and sometimes not enough.
I am a nut case. I see what I want and can't get it! Below you see the "inspector" informing me this one needs work.

Corot  painted  the soft, gentle light of France.

Did you know? His hazy landscapes with misty grays veiling nature's color, an effect achieved by overpainting while his underpainting was still wet.

Did you know? His hazy landscapes with misty grays veiling nature's color, an effect achieved by overpainting while his underpainting was still wet.

3 year old blog gets a new name and needs your help

top,-pastel 8x10 Uart, bottom -oil on linen

At the top is another plein air study of the field at sunset. I am trying to make the "burnout" that happens when the light is SOOOO bright.  When light is intensely bright it will burn out the darks nearby, note the lemon yellow as it touches the trees. 

Underneath is the underpainting for the next oil that will be based on these studies.  I am going to TRY to hold back on color and only use 2 or 3 choices with some variance (temperature and chroma). Let value make the statement. So far I used transparent red oxide and shale to create the underpainting.  Hmmm, that's two, already.

In case you haven't guessed already, I am still blogging everyday. I will have to rename the blog since it won't be a new painting each day. Instead it will be plein air paintings, small nuggets of information, paintings in process, finished work and occasional interviews. Does that sound good? The question is what should the new baby blog's  name be?

1. Painting Everyday- A three year old blog moves forward
2. Painting Each Day "Old enough to walk but young enough to fly."(Sam's quote -Sam of Samartdog)
3. Painting, Life Goes On

Please send your ideas!



PS I may take some weekends off from blogging..we will see.

more underpaintings and Lynne Windsor

both are 9x12 oil on gesso with marble dust on gatorboard
Here are the  two new underpaintings I have been working on this week. The light will be sunset and early evening twilight. I added more white and transparent earth yellow in the bottom one as an experiment. We will see.
You are probably wondering why I add marble dust to a ground for oil painting. The truth is the first time I did it, it was by accident. I was in a frenzy. Idea filled and excited, I picked up what I thought was a smooth gessoed panel. I began painting and realized I like a little bit of drag/texture. Oooooh I like this. And so goes the story!
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On another note: you are in for a real treat as tomorrow I will post the first installment from my interview with Lynne Windsor. Last Friday afternoon I had a wonderful phone conversation with Lynne. I have admired her work for a very long time and was delighted when she agreed to talk.
I must admit it takes me awhile to organize and type up an interview, so I do it in slices. While you wait, take a moment to check out Lynne's GORGEOUS work- website and Blog.

more work on the underpaintings and thank you

First, a giant thank you for all of your thoughtful responses to yesterday's question. I must say I had absolutely no idea that my blog mattered to anyone else, but me. Thank you for all of your kind words. I am thinking and sorting out the possibilities.
In the meantime here is more work on the underpaintings. I am working with Deborah Paris online again. She told me that, in order for my underpaintings to be useful for glazing, they needed to have more information. That way I can decide later if I wanted to take it out, but when glazing you can't add it later (unlike alla prima painting.)

And my new routine- a quick morning memory painting. The sky was green gray and the low fog was blueish.

underpainting and grisailles

I am experimenting with two different ways of glazing. One begins with a grisaille (either tight or loose) and the other with simply color bands. Each method has it's strengths and weaknesses. For me, I think the bands of color method resonates much more closely with my pastel methods. Still I experiment with both simply to see what I can learn.
Two interesting notes:
I remember reading somewhere that Maxfield Parrish glazed each color separately and varnished it before placing another color on top. That's how he creating his luminosity.
Sanford Gifford stained his white canvas with burnt sienna, drew in white chalk and then glazed more rapidly. He would paint non-stop from sunrise to sunset when he began the color part of his painting. He had already worked out his color idea in his oil sketches. Gifford kept working and blending his glazed layers while they were wet. 
Don't you find it interesting to read about others methods? I sure do. Anyone want to share an interesting tidbit?

plein air to studio, series of the forgotten lands

studio underpaintingplein air underpainting

Plein air paintings serve many purposes. Many are beautiful pieces that hold on their own as "finished." Others are studies for bigger works. And still others can be both. Because of this I wanted to share one very important tip. Photograph your work in many stages. For me the most important stage is the underpainting.  When you have these photos it makes it easy to go "back into your head" and begin to recreate the feeling you had out there in the field. I often take notes to remember how it felt and sounded when I was on site. When using my plein air pieces I have no real need for photos of the scene. Cool, eh?
This is a studio piece that is almost finished.  It is at the "sit and wait" stage. Think, don't act. hmmmmm that is often the hardest part.

soft morning glaze

pastel and watercolorgrisaille/loose

watercolor underpainting

 Early morning on the field...seems like a cool green/pink light, so I used a warmer grisaille and warm gray purples and burnt siennas in the underpainting. It is always better to use warmer color than you think is necessary in the "skeleton". Actually that can go as a rule for the whole painting. I feel that we as people need to resonate to our land and warmth is appealing.  I tried to soften the edges of everything. I am still playing with that wonderful, new fixative. Della (the creator of the fixative) suggested I try smooshing it around with my watercolor. (Clean brushes well after). It has a different effect I can't quite describe yet....maybe "thicker, with substance."  Check out this fixative. Here -spectra fix.
This is a studio piece  and  I continue to search for luminousity and mystery. I hope I made it warm enough. For reference I have my memory and the paintings I have done at this field so far. 
Here is another quote from John Carlson:
"If you train yourself in memory work, you fearlessly attack and rearrange your material, for your can retain your original impression. Otherwise you have to return continually to your motif out-of -doors, with the result that successive and different impressions may engender ambiguous approximation in you picture."
That is food for thought.

New watercolor underpainting

27"x37.5"watercolor underpainting on Art Spectrum supertooth

Are you intimidated when beginning a new BIG painting?
I am. It's weird. Plein air work and small stuff (24"x 24"and smaller) are like water off a duck; comfortable and they just roll off. Yeah, not all are good, but intimidating, no. There's a threshold where it changes.
For weeks I have planned this painting in my head. Made a series of plein air works, visited the museum for inspiration and thought. Yesterday the notans and sketches were finally made. This morning I charged myself up to begin the challenge. With all art business finished yesterday, I had a good night's sleep (imperative), small walk, a soy chai and a clear head; now I was ready to begin at 7:30 am. It's like gearing up for an athletic event!!!!!
Freeze. Think. Freeze. Think. Finally the brush touched the paper and from there things flowed. The wall had been jumped. Now I will let it dry and re-flatten it. Tomorrow I will meet the next wall when pastel are applied. After the first stroke is down it is free sailing.

Why is it like this?
Does anyone else experience such intimidation?

underpainting for deer grazing painting

I was walking through the field at dusk.The deer were grazing, unafraid of my presence. The land was theirs and there was nothing to fear. The light glowed through the trees creating a feeling of pure mystery. Here is the pencil sketch I made. Upon returning home I created the watercolor underpainting. Right now I am preparing a big marble dust board. I am eager to begin fresh tomorrow morning. First I will finish the study, then underpaint the board.

underpainting for golden fog

For the past two days I have patiently (can you believe that??) worked on this watercolor underpainting. Time spent waiting for each layer to dry before adding another layer of color. My goal was to have color, in particular golden yellow, to be my light. If I am to place lighter color on top it must twinkle off something beautiful.
This afternoon I ship off my computer to Apple for maintenance and repair. Therefore I won't be blogging till it returns.
Toodles !

glutton for punishment

8x10 oil underpainting on canvas birch panel
One saying I remember hearing from my Mom was"Loriann, you're a glutton for punishment." I think it meant I never gave up, even when she felt I should have. This is a way to say I am back to glazing.
This is an underpainting of the field I love. It was done from memory. After all I have painted it enough. It's funny this is the third time I have painted it in the last 4 days and each time a path to the sea keeps becoming more and more prominent. Hmmmmmmm.

Oil Underpainting for Rio Grande

11x14 oil on gesso panel
In order to create depth I first needed to do it in the underpainting. I used the foreground hill to move up and carry the viewer to the mesa and over the the horizon and down again. Since I normally paint the masses then dig out the form it was hard for me to put so much detail in an underpainting. But what I have learned at this point is you can't add when you glaze or else you cover your glazes.
Now it has to dry completely before glazing. Here's where the patience comes in.:-)

Swan Song

10 x10 pastel on oil underpainting, Uart paper .
10 x10 oil underpainting
What better way to learn..... than to transfer my new information to the brain I understand-pastel. So I did a second oil underpainting, but this time it is on Uart paper. Then, I pre-selected my pastels, all the time keeping in mind my color harmony (melon sky with violet/brown.) I tried to paint with my pastels in glazes. Sky first-opaque. Then a succession of glazes- avoiding white. I found out later that I really needed a discord color so I added the yellow/gold green.
At the beginning it was my intention to add the swan, but I wasn't sure I could pull it off. Can you see it? In Sanibel the refuge was filled with pelicans, rose spoonbills and egrets....so I made my own choice and decided I wanted a swan.

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.

Sanibel Dreams

6.5 x10 pastel and watercolor on Uart paper $100.
Prodded by my work with Deborah, I am trying to stretch the ideas into my pastel. Therefore I approached this one completely differently. Beginning with a Quinacridone magenta underpainting I tried to think of my pastels as glazes. Darks are thinner and more transparent and lights tend towards being opaque.
I began this one yesterday and it wouldn't let me sleep. Finally I got out of bed (Kins the muse cat did too) and surrendered to the painting.

Tonalist underpaintings

tonal underpainting, 5x7 oil on gesso board
tonal underpainting, 3.25x7 oil on gesso board
tonal underpainting, 6x8 oil on raymar canvas panel
I am taking Deborah Paris' online Painting the Luminous Landscape course. I have always admired her work and have wished to take a course with her. She is a tonalist and when she works she does an underpainting in transparent colors like shale and burnt sienna. My tendency is to do a watercolor underpainting in intense colors.. so I am researching and experimenting something new. Even my cat Kins (the studio muse) looked at me as if to say," What no magenta?"
The course itself is really cool. We post work on a site and Deborah or other classmates comment. Deborah is great. It was only been 3 days and she has posted demos, given reading lists, lots of comments and other goodies. You will see my struggle posted on here for the next month...here we go.

Feel free to comment and critique friends!