To the underpainters

[Linda Brandon]

Hi Ilaria,

This is a lovely start and I'm watching this thread carefully to see how you're developing the painting.

I have to ask you, what is the ground for your painting? Wood? Do you coat it with a layer of varnish?

[Garth Herrick]

Originally Posted by Linda Brandon

Hi Ilaria,

This is a lovely start and I'm watching this thread carefully to see how you're developing the painting.

I have to ask you, what is the ground for your painting? Wood? Do you coat it with a layer of varnish?

Hi Ilaria,

I think you have a strong start on this painting as well. Like Linda, I also am watching how you develop this (I should also benefit from Scott's secret knowledge as well). I also am currently attempting a variation upon underpainting, but with a mixed and awkward start (and I may revert to my default impasto alla-prima approach at any moment!). I also quickly covered all that blinding white of the canvas with a color (but now I want to cover all that color too). Thanks for sharing this; I look forward to future developments.

Linda, this is just my guess, looking at the photo above: I bet Ilaria has a ground of raw umber or "wood" colored paint over a white ground on canvas, but my first impression was also that this is a wood panel. Is this on linen?

Garth

[Ilaria Rosselli Del Turco]

Linda, Garth,
I painted on a linen canvas to which I applied a couple of coats of acrylic gesso, sanded to make it smooth.
I toned it with raew umber diluted with spirits of turpentine.
I am still at the underpainting stage, the paint on the face actually got very thick with all the corrections, I hope I'll be able to master it !
I'll post another photo as soon as I'll make some progress!
Thank you for encouraging !
Ilaria

[Ilaria Rosselli Del Turco]

Here I am again, I started glazing a couple of days ago, even if I didn't solve the trousers problem yet.
The skin of the boy looks dramatically pale, and despite my initial reference was Bronzino, here posted, I will have to do something about it.
Another problem is that the boy is so beautiful he looks very feminine, again not different from a Bronzino's painting but maybe not right in this case.


What I intend to do next, is concentrating on trying to get the shadow to render the roundness, as I find the face rather flat. I think that this technique can enhance the perfection in a face, the geometry, the purity of the egg shape, and it might require that I sacrifice some of the likeness to achieve this.

Scott, yes, do you think I will end up with a lot of browns?. Maybe my darks in the underpainting were not dark enough. What colours can I use in the shadows? And then the hair: i normally don't paint them 'one by one', but I am afraid this time I might have to. I have problems as I normally do them in a very loose way and the tips look very rigid. Any suggestion?
I think I will keep the green background (Bronzino again), the cushion will be venetian red,the sofa a little more ochre, the trousers dark khaki maybe.
Ilaria

PS Incidentally, thank you for suggesting that I use permanent rose W&N: what a fantastic colour that is. I had it in my open studio class and my teacher showed me how to mix it, it's fantastic and it immediately found his place in my palette! When I asked him why nobody at school ever mentioned it he answered: painters don't always like to reveal everything...

[Scott Bartner]

Dear Ilaria:

When I first saw your under painting I thought you could just get away with the light and shadow pattern of the boy's head. It appears while adding color, you flattened the head and lost much of that form.

What makes the Bronzino so solid is that strong core shadow and reflected light on the left side of her head. Also of importance is the value of the secondary shadow that runs along the right side of her head. These core shadows are essential to creating form and the reason all of the pros here are screaming about the importance of good reference photos containing these elements.

Speaking of which, could you post your reference photo. Perhaps after seeing it, I could suggest a possible solution. If you want to eventually glaze your flesh tones in the true sense, you've got to re-establish the shadows and get back the solidity you lost.

[Michele Rushworth]

The W/N Permanent Rose sounds like an interesting color. Is it transparent?

[Ilaria Rosselli Del Turco]

Scott, thank you so much for your help!
I am in real trouble, I know, I think I will work on a safe ground and go opaque. How could I think could get it right at the first attempt?
Don't worry, your explanation was very clear but there are a lot of variables involved that are impossible to understand if you cannot phisically demonstrate. How transparent the glaze, how dark the darks, how to apply the glaze without streakes...

I will try to focus on the darks and lights, painting opaquely, trying to achieve the volume, and learn from my mistakes...
Michele, I didn't use it for glazing as it has such a strong tinting power.
I tried it opaque with ochre and viridian: very powerful combinations!
Here are the two photo I an working from
Ilaria