Everyone knows how to start a painting, right? You take up your brush and begin–what’s the problem? Joking aside, if you want to create a sketch or study, that IS exactly how you start. That approach is fine until you want to create something more ambitious. If you intend to create a piece that’s large, complex, or both you need a different strategy.
Here is a painting in my Amusement Park series. This painting is almost done now but its early stage is typical of how I start a large and complicated painting. (Winner! is 40″ x 56.”)
The toned ground is raw umber oil paint mixed into lead-oil gesso. The tone ground is applied over a layer of white lead-oil gesso, which was applied over an acrylic ground. Because I like a smooth surface, I applied both oil layers with a scrapper. I also sanded all layers.
This process provides a smooth and slightly absorbent surface. If you’ve done lithography, you know how wonderful litho-stones are for drawing. This surface reminds me of that.
Next, I work up the drawing. On Winner! I used lead pencils but I’ve used charcoals on occasion.
The main decision point is determining how far I want to finish the drawing. Because I’ll cover the drawing with paint, I used to restrict the drawing to cartoons–simple outlines. These days I push the drawing further. By using transparent paint layers, I can incorporate the drawing into the final painting. I like the look of drawing elements peeking through the paint surface in the dark areas. I’ve never been interested in capturing surface textures so this approach works for me.
when using an oil ground on top of acrylic gesso, how long do you wait for it to dry before you start painting?
I wait three days after the first oil layer is down before proceeding with the second layer. I prepare canvases in batches so some of them can cure for several weeks before they see paint.
Drawing,painting,sketching
Ok