Underpainting with RU

[Richard Budig]

Folks:

Thanks for all the thoughtful replies. Juan asks "which old masters?" Well, Juan, I suppose that was a rhetorical reference . . . all of them so to speak. I've just become interested in this technique, and, in fact, I've been developing my own glazing techniques that are probably different, yet the same, in some ways, from any of those old masters.

Rather than going through the RU, or black/white/gray underpainting, I've been using rather bold colors in the direction in which I'm interested in going, and then glazing over them.

For example, where I'd like to have a real warm, old wooden barn wall -- an interior view -- I'll paint it in somewhat garish reds, and then come back and glaze in various quantities of burnt umber/alizarin/Ivory black. You get the idea. These glazes cut the garish quality of raw red, let the red shine through, change things to a darkish, orangish, reddish look that seems thin and transparent. You can add a touch of blue (ultramarine or cobalt, also, which further tempers the strong red.

As I say, I'm doing this mostly to get the concept, and, also, to see what happens. It's all new to me, so it's fun, too. I must say that using glazes for the backgrounds, and opaques for the lights, and those items in the foreground, provides some interesting ways of seeing things. The opaque things seem to bounce forward while the background/shadow seem to have depth. But, of course, this is one of the reason for doing all this.

I may adopt glazing, but in a limited way. For now, it's a learning process for me. If anyone has any other ideas for me, I'd like hearing them.

If I have one REAL complaint, it is that my art education has been so hit and miss. I learn where I can, and not always in the order the information would be presented in a formal school setting. So, as you might suspect, I get a hunk of something that is a light year ahead of where I am, then them a bit of something that is well behind where I am, and I'm left in the middle, trying to sort out just where I am and what I have actually learned. In the end, though, it is fun, and I'd rather try to make art than anything else.