Tuesday

Painting and Researching Old Master Techniques Continues




In between working on rentals, taxes, a pet portrait and just trying to survive all the madness, I got some more done on my two paintings. I'm applying the "dead" color now. I'm not sure how much to put on, so I'm just going by gut feel. I've been reading some books about this technique, including "The Materials of the Artist" by Max Doerner which my teacher recommended in class last week. I've had the book laying around for years and have hardly looked at it (if at all!) It did have an interesting passage under the chapter "Techniques of the Masters." When constructing a grisaille painting, make sure the under painting is "much lighter than the original" because subsequent glazes will darken it. That makes sense. And also heighten not only the light areas with the white mixture, but also the shadows so they won't appear as "dead, colorless, dark areas" when glazed. So that's what I'm aiming for. I'm scumbling madly away at everything on the canvases. I even started another painting of Jerry! I'm frugal to a fault and couldn't stand to waste the paint leftover on my palette.

3 comments:

marianne said...

.comlooks like they're coming along nicely! you are very brave...

Jordanka Yaretz said...

You are doing great ,I can't wait to see them finished.

Gayle Bell said...

Thanks Marianne and Jordanka. I'm anxious to see what the glazes will bring out. It feels kind of like the excitement of Christmas--you're not sure what's going to be revealed beneath the wrappings!