I had not done a full underpainting
in a while; I forget how magical this process can be. Glazing color over the
grisaille creates an illusion of depth that is hard to achieve in any other
technique. Progress shots, drawing, umber
wipe -out, grisaille, color pass.
Grisaille – (griz-eye’)
fr.- grey an underpainting done entirely in monochrome shades of gray.
Craftsman, oil on linen panel, 11 x 14 in, Jim Serrett
First Color Pass: These are the first color layers over the underpaintings. I have attempted to develop each one equally and establish a similar refinement. It is obvious from the beginning the degree of finish or resolution is more observable in the further developed monochromatic underpaintings.
When I speak of “resolution” I am using it to describe the degree of focus, that with each color pass over the image you make small corrections and adjustments, slowly tuning in the image to the level of three-dimensional reality you wish to see in your painting. With this slow dialing in, each pass should be about fine tuning not correcting and selective focus instead of detail. That is key to moving forward towards you’re vision. The artist Sadie Valeri explains this dialing in like this, “that in every layer of the painting you get 50% closer to reality “and in each additional layer fifty percent more so on. Each one growing exponentially (building) on the last until you achieve a high degree of realism.
Form Painting: So, in the First Pass I wish to make the big statements of color, shape and edges over the value study and drawing. I want to think about color relationships comparing abstract passages of paint by chroma and temperature. To think about form, that each brush stroke exists in three-dimensional space and state where it is in light and where it is in shadow. The concept of light on form or modeling dimension like a sculpture is often referred to as Chiaroscuro – The contrast of light and shade. The act of modeling light and dark is called “Turning Form”. I like that adage because it simply describes the goal of representational painting to create the perception of depth.
My paint consistency varies depending on which underpainting I am working with but basically, over top of the underpainting I am using thinned transparent glazes which I then work into with more opaque paints wet into wet. Building up of transparent, semitransparent, semi-opaque, opaque and impasto layers of paint (glazes, scumbles, velauturas, impasto) that create different optical effects.
Starting top left moving clock wise- Grisaille, Bistre,
Ébauche, Imprimatura.
I am not quite ready to lose my drawing yet, plus I need the
values to affect the color passages and to build luminosity and depth. In each
paint passage I continue comparing hue, value, chroma, edges, and textures.
I
think form and atmosphere, not things.
Painting the points of contact, reflected light, the hills and valleys as light
rakes across the subject I look for delicate passages and subtle shading. I
look for the “air” around the subject, (as odd as that sounds) and try to paint
the atmosphere.
Hue - is a color’s characteristic, where it lies in the color
spectrum, (the color name)
and which temperature it leans
towards, warm or cool.
Value – is the relative degree of
grayness, lightness or darkness of a color.
Chroma – is the colors intensity, the
degree of brilliance of a color, from intense to dull.
Chiaroscuro, (from Italian: chiaro,
“light,” and scuro, “dark”) 1. The contrast of light and shade and the art of
distributing these elements in a picture planes. 2. Light and shade as they
define three-dimensional objects
Summary: The main
purpose of underpainting is to solve the problems of composition, drawing and
value so that you can concentrate solely on the application of paint. Using a
variety of techniques to realistically create the illusion of depth, form and
atmosphere. (The amount of light, depth and atmosphere you can achieve in this
manner is almost magical.) Multiple veils of transparent color contrasted by
opaque light passages, produces a level of realism that I believe cannot be
matched with other approaches. You literally carve out volume with this method.
Which type of underpainting to use, Grisaille, Bistre,
Ébauche, or Imprimatura is about knowing
the strengths of each and being able to look at an object as say, “Yes this
approach will work best to achieve that", kind of knowing which tool to reach
for in the tool box. I was going to go into my thoughts on each and compare
strengths and weaknesses? But feel it better to not muddy the waters with that and
let people come to their own conclusion. Maybe I will touch on it later, but for now I will say there
is a wealth of knowledge within these methods to explore and doing so will
expose how to get the maximum impact of what the material can do.
As a Realist, it is important to have a comprehensive range
of techniques to draw from and expand your artistic vocabulary.
In this demonstration, I will attempt to compare the
different methods of underpainting technique used and developed by artist prior
to the 20th century. Just walk through any museum and compare the 20th century
wing to the 19th and on to 15th century. It becomes
obvious that those artists where doing something different, they were using
paint differently. They had a vast vocabulary when it came to making marks with
paint and with it they could create great illusion of space and form.
Painting in an indirect method, building layers up of transparent,
semitransparent, semi-opaque, opaque and impasto layers of paint create different optical effects. The purpose of this is to achieve three-dimensional
space, through the refraction of light, what is called “Turning the Form.”
The most important illusions of realism in a painting are
Form and Value. And by using the underpainting to divide the image into manageable
parts, the drawing, the values and lastly color, they could focus on the actual
mechanics of applying paint. They created this amazing tool box of techniques, which
liberated them, where they could slowly tune in on the level of realism wanted. Thus allowing these artists to create at a higher level of expression and produce some
of the greatest masterpieces in history.
Starting top left moving clock wise-
Grisaille – (griz-eye’)
fr.- A grey underpainting done entirely
in monochrome shades of gray or another neutral color, to produce the illusion
of relief sculpture.
Bistre - (the
wipe-out method) – An underpainting using warm browns (usually raw umber or
burnt umber). A thin coat of umber is painted or rubbed over the canvas and then
‘wiped out’ or lifted using a rag or a bristle brush and a small amount of
solvent. Darks are built-up with thicker and leaner layers of umber in a near
dry brush approach.
Ébauche – (ay•boash
) fr. - or first block-in with color or
color sketch. This creates the overall general feel and effect of the painting
with colors and values. Leaving a
sympathetic underpainting or foundation similar to a watercolor.
Imprimatura is an
initial stain of color painted on a ground. It provides a painter with a
transparent, toned ground, which will allow light falling onto the painting to
reflect through the paint layers. The term itself stems from the Italian and
literally means "first paint layer". It's use as an underpainting
layer can be dated back to the guilds and workshops during the Middle Ages;
however, it came into standard use by painters during the Renaissance,
particularly in Italy.
Alla-prima –
Italian expression loosely translated “at first try”. Direct painting (wet into
wet), a method which is completed in a single session without previous
preparation or later layers of paint.
I will be continuing along with the indirect painting
technique over these underpaintings, using layering, glazes, scumbles, and
velauturas to create a illusion of three dimensional form.
So, I invite you to visit again as the paintings evolve.
You can access more Underpainting Demos through the labels
in the side bar or use the search box at the top left of the blog.
"Life imitates art far more than art imitates life." - Oscar Wilde.
Intuition.
I get an idea and tend to just run with it, focus on the process and let the concepts evolve as I go. When working in a series, one piece will feed into another and things will lead in interesting directions, if you let them. This awareness of the painting experience is directing your decision making and aesthetic choices. The process is always asking questions as you answer them, what hue, value, chroma, shape, edges, scale and on and on, and hopefully with experience you are doing all of this intuitively. I find a lot meaning, energy and satisfaction within this chain of events.
Media – Popular
Culture and Dumbing Down
It seems that where ever you go today there is someone staring at some little device lost in a vortex of texting or in some loud authoritative one-sided conversation. I wonder how much of their life is spent with their head down and eyes glued to a screen. People have become so dependent on these devices, if not addicted, starring and constantly checking their smartphone. Having a conversation with someone while they are texting is not multitasking, it’s just bad manners. When my earliest cell phone rang it was usually a client or art director in a panic about some deadline, commission or change needed. Silence was a good thing…
I am very supportive of the technology, but I wonder what it says about society and its direction. With all this conversing we actually seem to be becoming more anti-social, less tolerant and self-absorbed…the synonym for Narcissism is Vanity. (We just had the most narcissistic/egotistical public display in history the 2016 Presidential election.)
We always study the culture of past civilizations by the artifacts they leave behind, we analyze their art, literature and music in hopes of getting a glimpse into the conscious of that society. I wonder what a future archaeologist will think of a society in which a dead shark formaldehyde preserved or a real-life bed strewn with empty liquor bottles, soiled underwear, and stained sheets is considered high culture? Does it take the absurd and obnoxious to get us to look up from our cell phones? With great interest and at times contempt I’ve watched the “official” art establishments join the conceptual art carnival where ruder and cruder is worth more. I mean what does an 18-karat golden toilet installed in a Guggenheim Museum bathroom, by Maurizio Cattelan’s titled “America”— yes an actual functioning gold toilet – says? Conceit, arrogance and snobbery, more synonyms for Vanity.
Ugly – is easy.
I try to be open minded and tolerant, but I don’t get the joke, postmodernist art seems to me to be elitist and exclusive, a system in which mediocrity is rewarded and validated by a self-contained circle of critics and promoters. And it’s no secret that the real value is its importance in monetary exchange and more its utility as an unregulated commodity.
When we approach art from the oppose end, that of beauty. We are judging it by a different set of metrics. We look at art through our human experience, a personal, truthful and honest view of the world. Great art transcends time and subject matter, not because of the artist’s technical prowess, but because it embraces universal ideas. It has an intrinsic power, some sensation of perfection that bypasses the intellect, in the same way that we receive sensual pleasure from the scent of a rose. John Ruskin referred to this as Simple Beauty, but also spoke about Ideal Beauty which he calls Relation. The artistic idea of relation goes a step beyond Truth, Beauty, Power and Imitation, into a realm that requires intellect. This is art that produces expression, sentiment and character. I see that as the gateway to understanding/creating artistic beauty- it is to see with the mind (intellect) and heart (emotion) These are the core universal ideas.
I enjoy writing/blogging about art but it truly is more for me than you. Writing is my way to work out some of my thoughts and concepts, engage in a bit of exchange and learn something new. I hope you take my opinions with a grain of salt, for they may change. I believe it is very important for artists to give insights into their ideas, share those opinions, explore and conduct critical thinking about the world around us.
Who better to speak about art then those who make it. That seems to me to be the proper etiquette.
Vanitas II - Etiquette, oil on panel, 11 x 14 inches, Jim Serrett
In the Vanitas genre people look at the skull imagery as macabre and morbid symbolism peppered with some moral instruction. That is one of the obvious interpretation, but I see it more as a cautioning reminder that life is precious, so they better not waste it on frivolous and meaningless things. Often included in the Vanitas or memento mori images is the phrase Memento vivere - Remember to live.
Live in the present moment. And recognize how we spend our time is important, what are we really cultivating? Is it improving our lives? Does binge watching hours of junk TV (which I am painfully guilty of) enrich your intellect or cultivate a skill? We need to have a balance, things we do that are frivolous or fun and those which are worthwhile.
Here is an update and progress shots of my second
Vanitas painting. I've made a couple of passes over the underpainting and I'm starting
to model the form. Looking for a very sculptural feel, I want the illusion of space to govern this piece and to have all the objects sit and recede
with a sense of dimension, which moves the viewer into the picture by means of light,
form and depth. This is very important to the narrative of this Vanitas.
My still life set up is a shelving unit draped
and boxed in with black fabric to block out any light. I light it from within and balance the same
light on my canvas and palette. I often use my pochade box as a standing
palette, and will normally use a hand held palette in unison to work out color
mixtures.
On the palette I premix mix a string of colors for each
object representing it's hue, value and chroma. If I see there is any color
shift as it moves from light to dark along the string I will tap warm or cool
into it from my color palette as needed. This way I am never tied to those
premixes and as I see reflected light or a temperature shift I can quickly
punch it up or tone it down without breaking the flow of the painting process. Because
if am really way off on my judgement, I can make those finite adjustments as I return for my second or third pass. Each time I visit a passage, the subtle
differences in color and value become easier to find.
This way I can just stay in the zone.
The Vanitas or memento mori imagery is a fascinating
genre to explore and is full of interesting symbolism. My concept of the
Vanitas or certainly the core idea behind them is to use it not just as a platform
to speak about the struggle of life and death, but of art and life.
Preliminary pencil drawing for my next Vanitas oil painting,
originally it was intended to be a simple contour drawing to transfer to
canvas, but I was just having too much fun with a pencil.
The majority of my still life works begin with a simple but
descriptive contour drawing, which works out the
composition and suggests the shadow side or turning point on the form. This is typically
more than enough information to move on to the next stage of paint. Especially
for any monochrome underpainting.
I pushed this one quite a bit further. In a preliminary drawing
you can do a great deal of problem solving. By simply dissecting the imagery,
exploring the shapes, form and value relationships. You really familiarize yourself with the subjects and those nuances
that first attracted you to it.This process seems the most natural for me and
the most challenging. I feel that I am looking through a lens and slowly
turning it, focusing in on the subject through my mind’s eye, interrupting it
as I go. Becoming more aware and knowledgeable about this thing before me as I progress through the process of creating the image.
As I describe the effects of the light, it becomes more and more
dimensional and real to me. And enjoyed fleshing out the value relationships in
this drawing.
I transferred the drawing to board. With the subject in front
of me and the value study as reference, I painted a quick wipe out umber
underpainting, to truly reinforce the value relationships before my first
color pass.
If we attempt to translate the natural world into paint with some type of optical fidelity (faithfulness to how that object looks in real life), what you paint is light. I know this is the vague common answer you hear when you ask an artist - what do you paint? But it is the simple truth, the truth of physical properties when describing form, what is illuminated and what is in shadow? No matter what the subject is; skulls, flowers, apples and oranges, I paint the effects of light first and the narrative second.
Our perception of everything in this world is described by light or the lack of.
It is the universal narrator, the chronicler, storyteller and poet.
I have had this little guy for over a decade, he was a dash
ornament for a few years and has been hanging out on the bookshelf for several
more. I've always wanted to add him into a painting somewhere/sometime. Plus,
I figure anyone that stuck with me this long deserves a little recognition.
Painting, (creating a work of art) is always a balance of
the internal and the external. The object I see and how to technically recreate
the illusion of it in form and color with pigments. And the internal, that
which generated this connection with me enough to want to create a expression
of it.
Technique is important, it is the tool bag from which you
pull, the foundation on which you create. Usually what attracts me to a subject
is the underlying abstraction, how to convey light and form with painted shapes is more than enough of a challenge. Honestly there are times when I am
oblivious to what the thing is that I am painting and see only color, edges,
shapes – form described by light is a fascinating subject and the medium
of oil paint is the most incredible material to depict it with.
The emotional attachment artists have to their subject
matter is a difficult thing to explain. Funny thou - it can easily be seen in a
piece, the expressive response has a tendency to works its way in unconsciously
while you are creating. Sensitivity,
intuition, passion are words used to describe that empathy for your subject. When
I look at great art, art that really touches me, all tend to exhibit three central traits... skill, creativity and empathy. And empathy being the most elusive, for I feel
that it is something which takes time, and something that is more experienced
then learned, it is...some reflection of our artistic selves and our inner
emotional lives.
There are things we do or experience in life that seem to fit with our psyche, they just feel comfortable and natural to us. I have always drawn, filled notebooks with Army
men and monsters from Mars, I was the kid in class that everyone would ask,
“Can you draw me a...”. I still remember, like it was yesterday the first real paintings
I saw in a Museum. They blew my mind, and yet somehow I knew I had to figure
out how in the world they did it. And later, the first time I pushed a puddle
of oil paint around on a palette, I knew, oh yeah…this is it.
Joseph Campbell wrote, “If you do follow your bliss you put
yourself on a kind of track that has been there all the while, waiting for you,
and the life that you ought to be living is the one you are living. Follow your
bliss and don’t be afraid, and doors will open where you didn’t know they were
going to be.”
This little
ceramic teapot has such a nice warm brown glaze on it that I found it to be just an interesting
subject to paint. I like the images reflected into it and really enjoy the subtle
colors. I am using the red and white napkins as a design element to bring a pop
of color into the motif.
The teapot is a small 2 cup pot that is painted just about life size. My thoughts were to paint an intimate painting about a cherished object representing a quiet moment in one’s life. Now if
all of this metaphor comes through the painting, to the viewer I would be
surprised. But I do think the emotional intent comes across.
I am laying out the image on the canvas panel with a thinned
mix of brown made from umbers, almost a sepia tone. Wiping out and editing the
lines as I go, attempting to get as accurate a drawing as I can. What I want is
the basic structure and design over which I will lay my first color pass.
You can find more information and demos on underpainting
techniques here.
Here is the final work on the ébauche painting, titled Coffee
with Rothko. I have always enjoyed Mark Rothko’s work. His paintings are surprisingly meditative and contemplative, and if you have ever been up close to one, they are very spatial with a remarkable simplicity. He could go into great descriptions
about the hidden meaning and symbolism in his work, alleging his work is based
on mythology and philosophy, conveying the spiritual. What Rothko’s paintings
lack in skill and craftsmanship he made up for by creating a dialogue about his
work and inspiring people to discern their meaning. Don’t get me wrong Rothko was one of
my early artistic influences and I would love to sit down, have a cup of
coffee with him and ask just how much of his rhetoric was art
speak and bullshit.
You will read over and over that art is subjective. What
moves one person may not move another… on that I will agree. But there is a means
by which we can quantify a work of art and it has very little to do with what explanation is written, what critics state or academics affirm about a work of art.
It is why people work hard and intensely all their lives
creating art.
“He who works with his hands is a laborer.
He who works with his hands and his head is a craftsman.
He who works with his hands and his head and his heart is
an artist.”
So here I am at the end of my first pass over the ébauche. I
am using the color ébauche over a white ground, but different types of ébauche
have been done through history, artist have used the color ébauche over top of
a grisaille and in conjunction with a wipe out or bristre underpainting. So the
main differences here in this type of underpainting compared to that of
a grisaille (monochromatic underpainting) is that you have light passing
through the thin layers of paint reflecting back off of the white ground the
base color or local color. And as I work through the first pass the ébauche
underneath supports the new color note and gives this very nice and sympathetic
foundation to paint over top of.
So I push through the first pass, relating each color note (hue-value-chroma) and passage, following the pattern of light, I keep dialing in closer and closer the resolution and fine tuning the image. In this layer I wanted to think more about dimension, where light hits and does not hit, what catches light and what is in shadow.
In some ways this is harder than using a grisaille because you are working color with form at the same time and you need to be very aware of the values you are using, building up your darks. In others ways easier because your color notes are in harmony with the layer underneath and you are describing the major forms so much quicker and getting the “big” picture, dialing in the finished image. What it does give you is an understanding of why through history artist have used this indirect painting process in its different variations, each had its advantages, and it was up to the artist to determine which method would be best suited for a given picture.
Next post - the finish.
“Learning never exhausts the mind.” ~Leonardo da Vinci
I start the painting by creating a preparatory drawing. Working from life I develop a simple but accurate “contour drawing” using a straight line "block-in" and use comparative measurements to find the big relationships "enveloping" all of the objects in the composition as one main shape. Drawing the largest shapes first and breaking them down into smaller and smaller components. The emphasis in the drawing at first should be simple straight lines, thinking in in terms of angles and tilts makes comparative measurements of one area to another easy. This helps in refining the block-in with confidence, creating a very accurate and economical map of the forms and objects. There are some prior posts here about the drawing process.
What I want in the drawing is a strong composition and a good foundation to work from, I want to look at the big picture not the details, check and measure the spatial relationships, and pay close attention to the negative and positive spaces. I will make many revisions on this simple contour drawing until I feel that I have established an accurate map of the major shapes. It’s not that I need a lot of information, I just need truthful information. When I am happy with the drawing I do a graphite transfer to a canvas panel.
Once I have my line drawing on panel I start the ébauche or
first block-in with color. The term ébauche is a French word that in
translation means “draft” or “rough sketch” and is most often associated with
the French academies and traditional 19th century academic training. It is a
form of underpainting that uses a thinly applied lay-in of dominant colors that
describe the major forms.
As an underpainting “the ébauche” is used to approximate the
qualities of color and value in their true relationship and quickly establish
the overall appearance of the painting. Painted loosely and thinly, it somewhat
resembles a watercolor. Unlike monochromatic under-painting techniques, the
wash-in is fully chromatic, which allows the modeling of form immediately and
gradually with hue, value and chroma. I like this process and use variations of
it when painting on location and from life, it allows you to really establish the overall
design and general effect of the painting quickly.
The manipulation of elements in the picture plane with aerial perspective, is what Leonardo da Vinci called “the perspective of disappearance,” which simply refers to the technique of creating an illusion of depth by depicting distant objects as paler, less detailed, and usually bluer than near objects.
The Old Masters push this concept even further with the painting techniques they developed that used a vast array of surface qualities which highlighted
and heighten this sense of illusion, thick and thin paint layers, transparent
and translucent passages and veils of colors, the words themselves conjure the
thoughts of atmosphere. Everything they did was to convince us of this magical
illusion of space.
My interest in this method of painting is that through sequential layers of paint, I can dial in the sense of realism, refining and adjusting the vision I am trying to achieve. The mastery of painting involves a lifelong commitment of learning and observing, setting the bar higher on my personal best to improve with each painting and hopefully create work that resonates with people.
Here is a bit of what has been going on in the studio
since I returned home from my Caribbean vacation.
I have been working on some alla-prima pieces, more direct, freer and quicker paintings like I do on my Pochade Box Blog that features mostly Plein Air work. The Three Pears were painted in one
sitting, wet into wet (alla-prima). I am
looking at this as a process to get in more paintbrush time and put something out
there every day. Bring a little
discipline to my studio time and be more constructive and productive.However my main focus is and will
remain with the Venetian and Flemish schools and the traditional indirect
painting methods.
Pochade Box painting alla prima.
The majority of my works are done in-direct, the method
that is the technique of painting in layers, where the painting is built up
gradually in several layers, with the use of both transparent and
semi-transparent paint, glazes and scrumbles. The grapes still life piece is at
the dead layer stage of underpainting. I did a preliminary drawing, working out
the proportions and composition drawing on paper and transferred it to a panel. I am
working through the grisaille very slowly, going for a very refined underpainting
paying great detail to the edges and values.
When I was doing commercial art I would produce three to
five illustrations a week, I was glad to leave that behind me. Since then I
have concentrated on the art of seeing, taking the time to slow down and really
digest a idea/concept/picture and truly enjoy the process of painting. Painting
has a transcendent power to connect a shared experience, to bring back an
emotional connection with the sublime. The familiar and the everyday hold great beauty when we open our eyes. So for me paintings are meditations on and
reflections of life. My theory of
paintings is that by developing the skill of observing/seeing based on the live
experience creates the most powerful form of realism.
However too much contemplation can lead to analysis
paralysis, not to support any Contemporary art stereotypes but artists can be
real procrastinators when left to their own devices. Someone once referred to
procrastination as “the thief of time”. So I feel I need to turn up the volume
a bit. Sounds simple enough, I just have to do two things; create work and
put it out there. To that end I have added an online store which I can offer work
for sale through auction at Daily Paintworks.
Since we are on the subject I might as well put an end to
a couple of other stereotypical ideas, the misconceptions that art is easy, that
artist do not plan ahead, that it is all freewheeling, easy Jamaica fun time
when artist are creating. I think if most people knew how much work goes into
being an artist they would be amazed and very disappointed, all of the artist I admire are dedicated professionals who work very hard. But then hell, if
it was easy everyone would be doing it. Art takes dedication, persistence,
patience, talent, a thick skin, and hard work.
And my favorite artist myth is of the tortured creative, bohemian
self-destructive soul that is lost in his art like in the movie Lust for Life
(the story of Vincent van Gogh's obsessive devotion to his art as it engulfs,
consumes, and finally destroys him.) Whacking his ear off, chasing prostitutes,
drinking to excess and getting into knife fights with other famous artists like
Paul Gaugin.
We should pay attention to this one, because we have lost so
many creative people to this scenario,
all types of artist, get cast into this role when they are unable to take
criticism, and have some delusional idea of perfectionism. This self-sabotage, I suspect is fear, the fear of success and/or the fear of failure. The fear of
criticism, economics, sales, acceptance, of putting yourself out there. If you
allow these things to get a hold they will choke the life out of creativity. It
can kill inspiration, imagination and invention. And procrastination is just an aspect of fear and
self-sabotage, it is a self-fulfilling prophesy of the worst thing we worry
about. So the truth is most artists are just procrastinator, why?
Because art is hard work.
Fear is the enemy.
Be brave. FILDI ............... Ze Franks explains this best in video below.
From all the small bottles I've collected, somehow this little blue bottle keeps finding its way back into a painting. I just really like the square shape and the way light refracts through it almost like a small piece of stain glass or a mosaic with many facets of color.
I started this piece with a very loose grisaille
("griz-eye") to establish my basic structure and design. The
underpainting suggests form without being too committed. I knew the only way
to get the transparency of the bottle was to glaze with transparent and
semi-transparent passages of color. The color stage of this painting went very
fast requiring just the slightest use of color to create form and dimension.
Boxwood in Blue Bottle Oil on Panel 8x10
You can find more demonstrations and videos on underpainting techniques by looking under "labels" in the side bar or following the links below. You can find
all of my instructional demos on my You Tube Channel, don’t forget to
subscribe.
The Copper Pot painting is another exploration of traditional oil painting techniques.
With a grisaille the artist develops form and value, separate from color.
By glazing color over the grisaille (monochrome underpainting) the shading (values) is already established, creating the correct values essential to realism.
The indirect method or the process of painting in layers allows for a wide range of approaches, techniques and effects, starting with a grisaille. The artist has a full arsenal of painting methods at his disposal, scumbling, sgraffito, frottie, scraping, rubbing, blending, hatching, impasto, velaturas and glazing. A range of painting techniques that makes complete use of the unique characteristics of oil painting.
As I start working with color I establish local colors for each object describing them by (hue and chroma). Hue is a color’s characteristic, where it lies in the color spectrum, and which temperature it leans towards, warm or cool. Chroma is the degree of brilliance a color has, from intense to dull. The first passage of the color lay-in is thin enough so the grey underpainting will show through and modify the hue producing (value).
The basic values will be established by the underpainting, but unlike direct painting, (alla-prima) the hue and chroma can be modified by any of the techniques listed above. The temperature, chroma and value can continually be manipulated by transparent and semi-transparent passages of color. Thus, what is so interesting in this approach is that the actual color lay-in can be either duller than the final envisioned color and the chroma increased with consecutive layers of glazing or the first color lay-in done in higher chroma and toned down with further layers. Sort of sneaking up on the exact color desired.
The painting was continued by building layers of more opaque passages in the light areas and semi-transparent (velatura) passages in the halftones. Blending and dry brushing (scumbling) those into each other, and then adjusting all those passages with glazes, continuing this process in several layers building the (chiaroscuro) or light and dark modeling. I finished the final overall layer with glazes and scumbles for more subtlety of color and tone.
Overall I’m pretty content with the end result, certainly there are areas I don’t think work as well as others. But I was at a point where I was tweaking little details and not improving the big picture or relationships. I really wanted to interpret the light effect (chiaroscuro) and interesting relationship within those restrained colors and neutral tones, which I feel read well. I believe the scumbling technique worked wonderfully, but think the halftones transition into shadow could be resolved further. An area that I can learn to improve with practice, the success of this work or any is always the knowledge and experience I gain.
I have begun to see glazing as a much broader and dynamic process, and the subtle and unique difference in the optical effect of glazing, veluatra and scumbling.
But one has to realize as they practice these methods, that the masters approached a painting with a tool box full of techniques, they combined them, modified them and manipulated them at will, like a conductor leading an orchestra. These were not tricks or gimmicks like you find in “how to” books on painting but an instrument they used to interpret form so they could concentrate on the bigger idea, what they where saying with their art.
They understood the language of their craft before they spoke.
Glossary and Terminology of Techniques
If we look back at what our predecessors did we need to understand the terminology they used if we are to develop an understanding of it and put it to use.
Modern painters can easily discuss these techniques using simple language about paint, such as dragged, dry brushed, stippled, blended. Clear glazes that are like looking through color glass or semi-opaque glazes that are like fog. But if you rummage around in old dusty art books you’ll find that the terminology was very different from today.
I have tried to make these definitions as simple and clear as possible, but I must admit it was hard to pin down some terms in text. What complicates the effort is that the really good writing on classical techniques usually have no illustrations, and many of the descriptions seem to overlap. So these definitions are the sum of my research and trial and error painting efforts.
Unless you are so fortunate to be studying with a living master, this leaves us with really only two methods to get a handle on these processes, one is to understand what those terms mean in a modern context and translation, and most importantly, go see these works in the real. And two, pull out the paints and try to paint those effects. This is how I arrived at these terms, understanding that all painting approaches are not seen individually but in combination.
Glossary of terms
Alla-prima – Italian expression loosely translated “at first try”. Direct painting (wet into wet), a method which is completed in a single session without previous preparation or latter layers of paint.
Blending – in basic term the smooth transition of one color to another, in broader terms (sfumato) softening edges of paint after they have been applied, usually with a clean brush or finger. Characterize by da Vinci’s practice of blurring the outlines of the model.
Body Tone – or mass tone, designate the value and color of an object that is illuminated by light and part of the light pattern, a color modified by light, or in line with light.
Chroma – is the colors intensity, the degree of brilliance of a color, from intense to dull.
Chiaroscuro – The contrast of light and shade and the distribution of these elements in a painting that form pattern and composition. First and best exemplified in the work of Caravaggio (1569- 1609) and later the Dutch master Rembrandt.
Frottage – Thick paint rubbed or dragged over a dry paint. Generally applied by painting bright colors over darker ones, to complete areas of light, shining parts or highlights. The master Titian used this technique often with great skill, often applying it as a half-impasto in bold strokes to bring high reflection to silk, or metal. Most often seen in the finished layer of a painting.
Frottie - or frottis Fr. - frotter (to rub) Transparent to semi-transparent glaze rubbed into the ground in the initial phases of painting, generally the first color layer done directly over top of a drawing, in either a single color or as the local color of each passage.
You can produce a complete monochrome in this way, or lay-in all of the ground colors of the picture until it has much of the effect of the complete painting. It quickly covers the white of the canvas with local color or mass tone. A process probably first introduced in the French Academy, eloquently utilized by the master painter William- Adolpe Bouguereau.
Glazing – transparent pigment diluted with medium. It is the application of darker transparent paint flowed over a lighter, opaque dry under layer. Glazes can be worked together and modeled wet into wet, rubbed in, lifted out with a brush, wiped out entirely and left in the crevices of the underpainting or canvas, brushed into with varying degrees of thicker paint “wisps” of color and value, and overlaid in various degrees to modify the underlying paint (like layering veils of glass) to add harmony, depth and luminosity to the surface. A glaze is a dynamic procedure applying paint made of undulating degrees of thickness, opacity and translucency. Not merely a flood of color.
Grisaille – ( griz-eye’) fr.- grey a underpainting done entirely in monochrome shades of gray.
Hatching - strokes or cross-strokes in wet paint that blend at a distance.
Hue - is a color’s characteristic, where it lies in the color spectrum, and which temperature it leans towards, warm or cool.
Impasto – Italian meaning (paste). Thick opaque paint applied with a brush or knife that stand visibly proud of the surface.
Local Color – The hue of an object, not modified by light, shade or reflected color.
Scumbling – is the complement of glazing. A style of glazing that is scrubbed or dry brushed over top of dry or almost dry paint using a film of opaque or semi opaque color. The scumbled layer is thinly applied using a brush containing very little paint creating a delicate veil which only partially obscures the underlying color producing an optical blending. Generally with light colors over dark it can be used to soften colors or outlines and even model form, modifying the transition from light to dark. Or create a hazy, atmospheric “opalescent” effect.
Value – is the relative degree of grayness, dark to light.
Velaturas – Italian (veiling). A velatura is a glaze with some degree of opacity. A semi- transparent glaze, tinted with a small amount of white that allows the undercoat to appear as though a milky or foggy haze, often referred to as the half-paste or semi-glaze. My understanding is the application of a velatura is sort of the middle ground between a glaze and a scumble, the major difference in the viscosity of the paint film, it being fluid and with more medium. Its effect is to soften and unify the appearance of the underlying layer.
“Look at nature, work independently, and solve your own problems.”
- Winslow Homer
Explore - Question - Learn - Enjoy, Jim
Bibliograpy
Eastlake, Sir Charles Lock. Methods and Material’s of Painting of the Great Schools and Masters. (1847) reprinted New York: Dover Publications, 1960
Elliot, Virgil. Traditional Oil Painting. New York: Watson-Guptill Publications, 2007
Palmer, Frederick. Encyclopaedia of Oil Painting Materials and Techniques. Cincinati, Ohio, North Light, 1984
Parkhurst, Daniel Burliegh. The Painter in Oil. Boston: Lothrop, Lee & Shepard, 1898
Reprinted Dover Publications: New York, 2006
Ridolfi,Carlo. (1594-1658); The Life of Titian, translated by Julia Conaway Bondanella and Peter E. Bondanella, Penn State Press, 1996
Sheppard, Joseph. How to Paint Like the Old Masters.
New York: Watson-Guptill Publications, 1983
Speed, Harold. The Practice and Science of Oil Painting. London: Seeley, 1924. Reprinted as Oil Painting Techniques and Materials. New York: Dover Publications, 1987
