Image source: Merlina McGovern
If you’ve read some of my past stories, you’ll see a bit of a theme of feeling down and stuck. This has bled into my daily art work. One of the best ways that I have of getting out of that painting block is to begin with an underpainting.
What exactly is an underpainting? Well, it’s exactly how it sounds. It is a painting, generally using a single paint color, that will sit under the final painting. For oil paints, you’ll want to really thin your paint down for this step. If you are using standard oil paints, you’ll want to use turpentine or mineral spirits as these will dry faster than linseed or other oils. However, fumes can be an issue. You can find handy tables showing the various materials to use for thinning standard oil paints online. Because I use water-mixable oil paints, I’m able to use water to thin my paint for the underpainting.
When you mix the pigment with water so that it is very thin, it is easy to cover the entire canvas and get rid of that blinding white block that can be very intimidating. And because it is thinned down, you can easily use a paper towel to lift off areas of paint to help with establishing highlights and lighter values. The thinned paint will also dry much faster.
With this underpainting, I can feel free to experiment and not worry about the details because I know that I will be painting over the underpainting, so there is less fear of making mistakes. This is also where you can set tonal values for your painting without worrying about color theory and you can easily play around with composition.
As to what color to use for your underpainting, that depends on what you’re feeling like. I’m a beginner, and I use burnt sienna for my underpainting. It has a warm and rich tone, which I feel lends an overall warm glow to the finished painting. I’m pretty familiar with how it will interact with other colors. Some folks may use blues, like ultramarine, which may give your painting a cooler tone. Generally, you’ll want to use a darker value for your underpainting color, helping you to easily establish where those darkest of shades will go for your final painting.
And, now that I’ve started, I feel much more comfortable getting out of that stuck place and continuing on with the painting.
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