Underpainting too light

[Morris Darby]

I am attempting some paintings in the classic grisalle method. I complete an underpainting and am satisfied with it's results so I let it dry. Now, I return and put a flesh-tone glaze over it and it lightens the underpainting and with multiple layers would disappear altogether. I'm sure Karin could shed some light on this.

Thanks,
Morris Darby

[David Dowbyhuz]

I agree, Karin WILL know.

It sounds like maybe you're using opaque colours for your flesh tones, which would not be an authentic glaze. "Glaze" by definition must be transparent, and any layers of which would not obscure your underpainting.

Here also is an article that may help.

http://www.artistsmagazine.com/article.asp?id=1833

Alternatively, consider verdaccio.

http://forum.portraitartist.com/show...0&pagenumber=1

[Karin Wells]

Hey Morris, any chance you could post a picture? I'm not really understanding why you are having this difficulty and maybe I could help you if I saw it.

[Morris Darby]

Thanks Karin and Dave. First Dave, you're right, maybe I'm not using a transparent color. I have Transparent Oxide Red and it is truly TP. However, other colors don't seem to act like it does even though their considered TP. The actual process I'm using is this. I use raw umber for the underpainting, let dry, then glaze with yellow ochre and zinc white for first flesh tones. Thanks for the URL's, will check them out today.

Next Karin, Yes, I can post a picture, but I would like to give you two. One of an underpainting, then one after the glaze. That would take awhile, so I'll take one of the current picture and post it soon. If you look at it you'll see that after just the one coat, any more glazing will almost completely do away with the shadows in the face. I am growing very fond of this style of painting. With working full time, it allows me to do very high quality paintings in incremental stages.

[Peggy Baumgaertner]

Morris,

I consider most paints to be transparent or semitransparent. The only truly opaque (occlusial) colors are titanium white, yellow ochre, gold ochre, and Indian red. You have picked one of the few truly opaque colors (yellow ochre) as the base for your "transparent" glazing. I would guess that therein lays your problem.

(My favorite transparent flesh tone is a mix of quinacridone rose and Rembrandt stil de grain yellow -- a transparent golden yellow).

Peggy

[Morris Darby]

Karin, here's the picture (finally). With just two stages complete, it's not a good photo shoot.

Peggy, you are exactly right. After digging to the bottom of my paint pail, I can't find one TP color other than Trans. Oxide Red. And I did use yellow ochre and cadmium red for the first glaze. It was very thin, but the bottom dropped out of my shadows on the face as you can see).

Oh, and the subject is my cousin's adopted daughter from Russia. She's 5 yrs. old now and look at this pose she held for me for 2 HOURS! I'll be doing alot of her.

[Karin Wells]

This is a delicious little painting and I love the "atmosphere" that you have created!

Here is the palette of colors that I use. Note: The "*" indicates opaque colors and ALL the rest are glaze colors:
*Titanium White
Zinc White
*Yellow Ochre Pale (Windsor Newton)
*Yellow Ochre
Cadmium Orange
Raw Sienna
Burnt Sienna
Alizarin Crimson
*Indian Red
Raw Umber
Burnt Umber
French Ultramarine Blue
Prussian Blue
Ivory Black

My Underpaintings are made with a mixture of titanium white and raw umber. When this is dry, I begin to glaze over the surface to achieve a skin tone. (Always, two thin glazes are better than one thick one).

To make a basic skin tone (any ethnic origin), I tend to use one, some, or all of the following glazes: raw sienna (this yellow rather than an opaque yellow), raw umber and burnt umber.

Hope this helps.

[Mary Reilly]

An excellent color for glazing in lieu of yellow ochre is "gold ochre transparent" by Winsor Newton.

[Karin Wells]

Interesting pictures of underpainting and glaze technique:
http://glazing.fws1.com/examples.htm

[Mary Reilly]

Karin,
What a great website on glazing. Thanks for sharing that.

Mary