A Process For Underpainting With Oils

In the spirit of wanting to play around with my materials, I decided to start an oil painting.  I took an oil painting class while I was attending Santa Fe Community College and the instructor, Laura Rosenfeld taught a fun technique to us.  I've used it several times since and always enjoy the loose feel of it.  I thought it'd be fun to share it here in case you haven't seen this before.

The 22" x 28" linen canvas coated with blue-violet acrylic paint and ready for the next step

The first step is to put a layer of acrylic paint on the canvas.  Today I laid down a coat of a deep blue-violet.  This will be a "mother color," which will give the painting a unifying tone underneath.  I almost always use an intense color combination for this technique.  The bits that show through the paint later on give the viewer an almost unseen peek at the underpainting, but it's there and adds to the depth of the piece.

Using a thinned down layer of Hansa Yellow Medium oil paint, I'll cover the acrylic layer

Next, I add a very diluted coat of oil paint, usually the compliment to the acrylic layer. I dilute it with Gamblin's Gamsol, an odorless mineral spirit.  The thin layer of oil paint can then be used to draw the initial composition into.

The canvas covered and ready for the composition to be wiped away

Using the tip of my finger inside a soft rag, I dip into the Gamsol, then wipe away the lines of my composition.  If I don't like a line, I can simply paint over it with more thinned paint and start again.  Painting with my finger is pretty fun and keeps me from taking the whole thing too seriously.

The composition is laid out, ready to dry so I can get started. 

Here is the basic outline of the painting I want to do.  Since I'm painting in oils, its easy to change it up if I need to, but this gives me a starting point.  I've been ruminating on this idea for awhile.  Using oils will feel more like playing, as every time I use watercolor I get too involved in the details and I want this to be very loose and painterly.  Hopefully, I can take time to dabble with it after work next week when the top layer is all dry.  It's under my skin now; I don't want to stop and let it dry..

Thanks for stopping by! Alice