April demo at the gallery

finished painting with pastel

watercolor underpainting for demo

This is for all of the folks who attended my demonstration on April 11th. Thank you! This painting was done completely from memory. The bottom photo is what the attendees saw and the top is the finished piece.
Tip- The most important thing to remember when doing a watercolor underpainting is to try to get your values correct. If you don't the watercolor will need to be covered in order for the painting to read correctly.

chincotegue plein air-underpainting

This is the underpainting of the marshes I see off my deck here in Chinocteague. I am here painting at my favorite place in the world for the Chincoteague Plein Air Festival. I love this event as it is so relaxed, with no competition. I booked myself into my favorite hotel with my favorite view. I intend to just paint from my balcony the whole time and yes that is allowed!!!! How fun!
I decided to post this watercolor underpainting. It's large for my plein air size-21"x21". I like the underpainting and it makes me reticent to dive in and add more. I did it late yesterday so I am letting it rest and allowing me to think before moving forward. "Incrementally" will be the key.
Tomorrow I will post a series of my 6"x6" sky studies.

tip on how to do a watercolor underpainting

I continue to show fields from Washington. Both of these were done on location. The larger of the two has a watercolor underpainting.
The most important thing to remember when doing an underpainting is that value matters. That way you are not just covering up the beauty of the watercolor. You can experiment with colors but always make the values in you underpainting correct.

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.

i can see you with my x-ray vision

9x12 pastel and watercolor on Uart
X-ray vision is what you need when thinking about an underpainting. The question is..."what lies beneath?"  When you see your muse, before you even set up your easel, ask yourself that one question. Think about the concept you want create. The underpainting is your set-up. It is your strength. The delicious pastel goes on top...or in the case of an oil painting the thicker paint is like your pastel. Still you are thinking of bones and skin.
In  this hazy, hot morning painting I chose to place hot, potent colors underneath and reserve my luscious neutrals for the pastels. And when they come out to play it's  always a surprise to me which game they choose. Sometimes I feel like I am just their playmate. They pastels decide the game, I discover the rules.

Still the main decisions were made in the underpainting. The design, value, and color harmony they are all there.

This was yesterday's painting. Seems like we are beginning our monsoon season. Rain makes studio work more fun.

By request here are the two underpaintings from Monday.  The top one is wallis, bottom is marble dust.

On another note, yesterday was my lucky day. I interviewed Marla Baggetta!  I have ALWAYS admired her work and wanted so badly to speak with her about it. I was super happy when she graciously took the time from her busy schedule to speak with me. She was just as I imagined. Warm, kind, thoughtful. I can't wait to share her thoughts with you. Hang on...the first post will probably be next week!

neutrals and harmony

 8x8 pastel and watercolor on UArt
Finally. I think I have the light on this one. I have done this view many, many times. This time I not only let the underpainting show through (at least 50%), the feeling of light is there. (Coincidence? what took me so long;-) )
The underpainting had beautiful neutrals (sorry I forgot to photograph it before covering it.) I placed the more pure colors on top in pastel. Neutrals are the natural harmonizers since they contain mixes of colors. In pastels you have to know what is in each stick just by looking...where as in paint you mix them so the harmony is controlled.

same place, different painting: and great news!

More studies of the river, different paper, this time I used Uart 400. I like the glow in this one better. The paper did not fight the watercolor like the Wallis did.
One little piece of good news that I am delighted to share with you (especially after yesterday's mini frenzy) ...... I was accepted into the week long plein air event  Mountain Maryland Plein Air (western Maryland), June 1-6th. I can't WAIT!!!!
Oh and one more thing, I will post all my paintings (the ones for the show)  on Sunday. By then I will have made my "decisions"... but still, no doubt  questions will remain. Place your votes then. I will bring them to the framers Monday afternoon.

green landscapes and growing pains at a bad moment

 

6x8 pastel and watercolor on Twinrocker all purpose

This was the second plein air from yesterday.

Why do I think this one is more successful than yesterday's painting? The answer: bridges, the bridges in this painting work better. That is the bridges between shadows and reflections make smoother transitions, bigger shapes. I think that one of our jobs as artists is to look for bridges. Look for places that join rather than separate, especially in the shadow shapes. 

On another note, I am trying desperately to select pieces (32 pieces to be exact) for my next show. It is time to go to the framer. Everything I choose is no longer good enough. I feel as if I am in such a constant state flux. I am at a "growing pains" time.  I picked out a number of pieces. Stupidly I asked my husband for his immediate response..... And I got what I asked for. We disagreed on at least half of them. Next he goes to my studio and asks...what about this one? (it was destined for the trash.) Or this one? (another pitiful painting!) EGAD! So where does that leave me? Only two days to figure out, that's where. Egad.

underpaintings:warm and loose

6x8 pastel and watercolor on Twinrocker all purpose
below, underpainting
Greeen..greeeeeen and more greeeeeeeen!!! The world has turned green, baby green. Personally, I find very green landscapes unappealing.  I forced myself to remember that landscapes have a warm bias, even when a cool, overcast, early morning sunrise lights new Spring foliage. You need to find the warm to make it look alive.
So this brings us to underpainting. When creating an underpainting you need to look at the skeleton colors. What is underneath? Paint that; then look at what coats that.  Most important: remember, there are NO MISTAKES in an underpainting, ONLY POSSIBILITIES.
In this painting I kept more orange in the landscape than was there. That was my choice. Remember you always have permission to select the color YOU want. You are not a slave to the landscape.
I did two this morning and will post the other one tomorrow. I liked that one better.

studies of a new painting:back to watercolor underpaintings

9x12 watercolor and pastel on Wallis
12x12 pencil on somerset velvet/ eggshell

I am planning a bigger painting that was inspired by my painting from April 7th . My intention today was to simply study the reflections and how best to make space. Yesterday I did this very detailed study (below), simply as a discipline, another way of knowing my place.
I am back to watercolor under my pastel, something I did for about 5 years and moved away from these last few months. I want to continue using watercolor underneath....but still the quest for new paper goes on. When I painted this one on an old piece of Wallis, the paper resisted some of the watercolor, but at least I could push the pastel into the sanded surface.  I use bristle brushes, the same type  I use when painting with oils (but not the same brushes.) Sanded papers really beat up your brushes!

tangerine sky

Pastel on watercolor, watercolor underpainting below

The air was cold and the water was slightly warmish....thus the beautiful fog. The tangerine sky set nicely off of the blueish fog. I must admit I just enjoyed myself with this one. Just painting for the pure joy of painting.

mark making/ influenced by john marin

16x20 watercolor and pastel on Uart paper

I had the most fun with the watercolor underpainting, I even wonder if I should have stopped then, before my fingers were freezing and stumbling over the paper. (It takes awhile before getting your "frozen painting legs."I feel like a total whimp now.) I feel the underpainting has a freshness the other doesn't. After I finished the watercolor I noticed that it felt so John  Marin-esque. Why I ask???? The one thing I remember about John Marin is that he believed he had to know a place intimately before he could paint it. I am in  complete and total agreement with him.

Today  was thinking about marks- why and how we choose. The bigger paper allowed the marks to get bigger and more expressive. I also wonder if our marks reflect emotional state as well as reaction to the subject. Any thoughts on that one painters and non- painters?