Navigator Step 2
Under-painting
Because I wanted the lighting for this painting to be quite dramatic, I decided to use a technique I haven’t used in years…an under-painting. An under-painting is basically a monochromatic painting of the entire composition that goes underneath the full-colored layers of paint that make up the final image. Why go to all the work? The under-painting allows me to lay out all of the values for the painting ahead of time, and much as the careful drawing saves me time later by solving all of the shape, proportion, perspective and line problems, it saves me time by solving all of the lighting problems. Between the drawing and the under-painting, all that I really have to worry about as I paint the over-painting is the color.
In order to keep things archival, an under-painting has to follow the rich over lean rule. In general, no layer of paint should have a higher oil content than the one that goes on top of it. This helps prevent cracking of the top layers of paint. For the same reason, it is also a good idea to try and use quick-drying pigments that are flexible when dry in lower layers of paint. Keeping these two things in mind, I used Burnt Umber, Raw umber and a little Ivory Black, all thinned with turpentine as opposed to linseed oil. Because the canvas was already tinted slightly, and because the pigment mix I used was not quite as dark as pure black, I also left myself a little room to tweak the shadows and really pop a few highlighted areas.
As you can see, the under-painting is a fairly complete image. I can tell exactly what’s going on, and already have a feel for how the light is going to work. I actually really like the effect too…it has a lovely antique sort of feel to it.
