Time Painted: March 2007
I’m quite glad I decided to bring my camera to my oil painting class this day. You see, I had just finished my underpainting of my current project, and rather liked how it turned out. And well, I was about to paint right over it, so I wanted some record of it.
Underpainting is an interesting thing. Really what it is is a value sketch of the subject made on the exact same surface as your final painting.
…A value sketch is a single color drawing or painting without too much detail that’s focusing on capturing relative brightness of various areas of the piece. It focuses on defining areas of light and dark rather than specific features of the subject.
Admittedly, there are reasons you paint an underpainting on the same canvas, rather than keep it on the side for future reference. The values you paint influence the colors above it. Light areas appear lighter and dark appear darker. That’s why my painting is in this blue color, as well. We were given the option of this blue or a warm red-brown color. The blue cools the piece, while the red-brown warms it.
And well, I just decided that with the coloration of the model, her outfit, and the background, warming the piece wouldn’t produce what I wanted.
I’ll talk more about that next week, when I’ll show the final piece.
