THE IMPORTANCE OF UNDERPAINTING
So, why do we need an underpainting?
The secret of layering colours to produce colour depth in a painting lies in the underpainting. Also called a block-in or wipe out, an underpainting is simply a step in the process of creating a painting. Many artists see it as an optional step. However, it has definite advantages.
Most commonly to establish the values in the image. The values are the darks and lights in an image. It’s how we see and perceive light. No defined light in your work, and you have an unsuccessful painting. If we establish the values during the underpainting step, when it comes time to add local colour, or the actual colour of the objects, we can focus all of our attention on the colours that we are seeing. We can apply the local colour as transparent and semi-transparent washes, allowing the value that we’ve established underneath to show through. By adding washes of colour on top of the underpainting, our colour develops depth and becomes more realistic.
This coloured ground can be used to build the painting in thin layers or glazes over the underpainting. The number and thickness of glazes will hide/ emphasise the coloured ground. This technique allows each layer of glaze to create wonderful translucent effects that look rich and “deep”or transparent and delicate. The mural below uses lots and lots ( And Lots And Lots!!) of glazes to achieve the final very delicate, almost transparent colors. (Although I would do it differently now, that was one of my first murals, and I was more hesitant and careful about the painting 🙂 )
Underpaintings can also be used to create an expressive undertone in an artwork. Using cool colors or warm colors in the underpainting can effect the overall mood of the completed image. Many artists like to use burnt umber, sienna, yellow ochre and other such earth colours to warm up their paintings. Or ultramarine blues and phalo green to give them a cool undertone. Winter scenes very often have diox purple as an underpainting. That is not to say that white/off-white is not a colour – that also has its own benefits.
In the colourful painting on top, the background was left a brilliant white to allow all the other colours “sparkle” on top. I used moody blues and purples to create a nighttime look in the next two. The last uses complementary colours blue and orange over a hot pink underpainting! Sometimes if I am doing a landscape, I might use a blue where the sky will be, and a green where the land happens – this first layer of paint is not one single colour.
Or one can experiment with using a colour that’s unexpected. Artist Mark Waller suggests an underpainting in a vibrant red or alizarin if the painting has lots of green tones, or a lovely hot pink colour for an underpainting. Little flashes of hot pink through your painting can often give it a lift it would not have otherwise had.
The underpainting fills some of the “tooth” in the canvas and gives it a little more body. Also, laying down a layer of underpainting as part of the ground texture prevents the canvas from absorbing too much paint.
One of the other added benefits of painting onto a coloured ground, is that you can rough in your painting in chalk. Cheap, easy to wipe off, and visible. Sometimes I sketch the painting in waterproof pen, and when I’m happy with it, do a thin layer of underpainting over this. With the elements firmly established, and visible, I can get on with the painting, knowing that they will not get erased. Many artists, especially muralists, find beginning the painting on a large, blank white surface a little daunting! A little textured colour helps a great deal here.
A single underpainting colour helps greatly in unifying the whole set of colours used on top of the final painting. This is because the underpainting colour will eventually peek through the rest of the painting in places here and there, even if the eye cannot discern it easily. These flashes of colour greatly affect the final mood / temperature of the painting.
Reference
Explore Acrylics : Underpainting. What’s the big deal?
The Virtual Instructor : Acrylic Still Life : The Importance of an Underpainting
Mitchell Albala : What Color is Your Underpainting? The Monochromatic and Two-Color Methods
Blair Thurman – Underpainting in Art to Create Mood
Comments