Sunday, January 30, 2011

Quiet Pleasures, step 4

The color underpainting

I spent a number of hours going over the entire underpainting with color. It is quite dark since I work from dark to light as the painting progresses.

There are several places where I lost the drawing, but since it is set up in my studio, I can redraw it easily. The wine bottle is a bit askew as is the wine glass.

I used burnt sienna and ultramarine blue for the background color as well as in the leather on the books. I made grays for the cloth with those same colors...it helps keep a good color harmony.

This is an important stage of the painting, where I can get an idea of color and values. But at least I can see where I am going. Going back to the set-up, I was concerned about getting enough color, particularly red, into the painting. Using the book with the decorated sides helps a lot.

I also have to remember that the lettering on the open book and the eye glasses will
fill some space.

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