I am using Utrecht flake white these past several days. I like it. It has good covering strength and it’s decently priced. While I like RGH better, RGH prices keep creeping higher. Plus, a recently-purchased tube of raw umber is an oily mess. The tube leaks oil and the oil spreads like a small lake on the palette. I know that umber is a difficult color to grind because it’s so drying but–yeesh.
Anyway, here are two recently started paintings. The top painting, Blah, Blah, Blah, is 30″ x 36;” the lower one, Keith Wearing a Fur Cap, is 30″ x 40.”
Until recently, I used neutral-toned, middle-value grounds but I’ve changed to white grounds. As a consequence, the first pass with paint (the under-painting), is thicker than with the non-white grounds. Although I take pains to preserve the drawing, I just want to get paint down, and I don’t worry overmuch about the details. I think what I’m saying is evident in these newly started-paintings.