This week we turned in our 3rd assignment paintings in my painting class. I definitely learned a lot on this one. We used a technique that I’d never done before. We used only mixtures of umber, sienna, and white to create an underpainting first. This is what my underpainting looked like:

In the background we could only use umber and white. For the middle ground we could only use sienna and white. Lastly, for the foreground, we could use all three and mix them together, but not mixing umber and white. This gave me what you see above.

Next, we used color glazes to transform our paintings from neutral to colored. We did local color glazes, analogous color glazes, complimentary color glazes, and so on. These are really watered down versions of the color that you want, allowing the background image to somewhat shine thorough. It takes a bazillion layers of every color to achieve this effect. In the end, you are left with something like this:

Quite a difference, huh? I’m happy that I learned how to use this technique, but it is somewhat difficult. Plus this painting fell all through midterms, so it isn’t as grand as I had hoped for, but it will do. 🙂

I’m excited about our next project! It is really different from all we’ve done so far. No still life! Yay! Here is a little sneak peek:

I’ll try to take more pictures throughout this one, so that I can give you a better description of the process. 🙂