Overcome the Fear - Rock the Underpainting

When I started out painting and art journaling, my greatest fear was addressing the dreaded "blank" page or canvas! How do I start??? Now that I've been painting for years, I've learned to be BOLD and just throw whatever color interests me at the moment down on the canvas or paper surface to give a running start to the creative process... This exercise is especially helpful when I have a few minutes to spare and want to do something creative, but don't want to get into a whole painting. It's also a great thing to do with left over paint! Here are some underpaintings in my studio right now:

The underpaintings above are oil paint on canvas (from a canvas pad), collage 

and NeoColor II water soluble oil pastel on canvas, and collage

 on acrylic wash (from left-over paint) on watercolor paper.

Since I'm an abstract painter, my underpaintings are just about getting color down, collage and mark making like the one below. Generally, I use the colors of an underpainting as a guide for the colors I paint or glaze over top, however, traditional underpaintings typically use one color; grey, sienna, red iron oxide, sepia, yellow ocher, and others.

NeoColor II water soluble oil pastel on watercolor paper. 

Salt was added while the pastel was wet to give the spotted effect.

There are some great resources available for free online about techniques for underpainting, such as this blog post from Jerry's Artarama HERE and a YouTube video from The World of Art HERE. A few of my favorite examples of underpainting in books are the write up about artist Juan de la Cruz Machicado in Painter's Wild Workshop by Lynn Leon Loscutoff and the "From Drawing to Painting" chapter of Bill Creevy's The Oil Painting Book. Don't worry that the references speak about oil painting, the same techniques can be used for acrylic painting and other mediums, too.

I encourage you to pick up a brush with left over paint or water soluble oil pastel crayons the next time you have a few minutes to spare and give underpainting a try! Use it to add layers and interest to your artwork. Please share your experiences trying this technique in the comments below.

Happy Arting!  Tristina :D

On The Bench - Oil Vignettes

Thought I'd give you a peek at some of the latest small oil paintings on my home studio work table.

When I have left over pieces of beautiful thick paper, I use painter's tape to mosaic them onto a portable drawing table background. These first get covered with a layer of clear or white gesso or acrylic paint, then I glue down map pieces with matte gel medium.

When the glue is dry, I draw over the surface with Caran d'Ache NeoColor II water soluble oil pastel crayons and use water to spread the color around to create an oil-friendly underpainting. After that dries, I paint on the surface with oil paints using several different shaped palette knives, keeping the paint strokes expressive and using the palette knife tip to scrape shapes into the painted surface. I make sure bits of the maps show through the background to add mystery to the finished paintings.

I'm in love with my collection of used domestic and international postage stamps; I select one, coat the back with Dorland's Cold Wax Medium and stick it to the oil-painted surface, pressing down with a palette knife. Finally, I use a small brush to add my signature to the paintings. (Note that sometimes it is best to let the paintings dry for a day or two before adding the signature.) The paintings get left to dry for 1-3 weeks, then the painter's tape is gently removed at an angle to the paper edge for an exciting reveal!

Saintly, 8in x 10in

Coronation, 9.5in x 11in

Passage, 5.5in x 7.5in

Peace Rising, 5.5in x 7.5in

Fierce, 5in x 9.5in

A great solvent-free way to clean the palette knives and small signature brush is to put a dab of linseed oil on a Viva paper towel or cotton cloth and simply wipe them off. (I learned this tip in Vicky Perry's Abstract Painting book) I hope you'll try this quick, fun way to create expressive mini works of art. Please share your results in the comments.

Happy Arting!  Tristina  :D