Oil Painting:Underpainting & Glazing

In the style of Johannes Vermeer

In this painting you will learn how to:

use water soluble oils paints and medium. create an underpainting. add colour with the glazing technique.

Underpainting / “Dead Colouring” Underpainting – also called “ Dead Colouring”, is the first

layer of paint. It is a monochromatic version, usually done in warm earth tones or neutral grays, of the final painting.

The goal of your underpainting is to capture the VALUES in your image and create a 3-D effect. Think about how a drawing looks once you have shaded it using pencil values.

Colour is later applied on top of the underpainting. The

underpainting will guide you with the correct values as you use colour. Eventually you won’t see much of your underpainting.

Leonardo da Vinci’s: Adoration of The MagiExample of an underpainting:

Grisaille (another term for underpainting)

Grisaille (French term) for underpainting (monochromatic grey or brown)

Grisaille may be used for: decoration to represent objects in relief, as an underpainting, or as a model for an engraver.

The photographic equivalent would be a Sepia Tone.

Side note: Full colouring of a subject makes many more demands of an artist, and working in grisaille was often chosen as being quicker and cheaper, although the effect was sometimes deliberately chosen for aesthetic reasons.

Verdaccio (another term for underpainting)

Verdaccio (Italian term) for an underpainting. (mixture of mars black and yellow ochre resulting in grayish or yellowish soft green).

It became an integral part of fresco painting where this color is used for defining tonal values.

Often architectural details in frescoes are left in Verdaccio without any additional color layers, best example is portions of the Sistine Chapel.

Detail from the Sistine Chapel

Glazing

Glazing is a technique used by painters since the invention of oil painting. It allows you to achieve luminosity and create bright colours that were not previously available.

Glazing consists of brushing a transparent layer of paint over another very dry layer of paint. Glazing doesn’t physically mix colours but optically mixes them.

The paint used to glaze must be diluted with the medium to achieve the correct fluidity for brushing thin layers.

You must remember to apply thin layers of paint or else you will lose the work you previously created.

Definition of “Fat” and “Lean”

“Fat” – refers to oil paint straight from the tube. Mixing it with more paint makes it even “fatter” and therefore, increases the length of time it takes to dry. Fat oil paint could take up to a week to dry.

“Lean” – refers to oil paint that is mixed with medium. The medium thins the oil paint, (allowing you to achieve different effects) and therefore, speeds up the drying time. “Lean” oil paint dries faster.

“Fat over Lean”

The principle of painting “fat over lean” is one of the fundamental concepts of oil painting and one to follow to reduce the risk of an oil painting cracking.

“Fat over lean” reminds you to put Fat layers of paint over Lean layers. Since thin (Lean) layers dry faster than thick (Fat) layers it is important to place thick (Fat) layers over top thin (Lean) layers. To avoid cracking you want to ensure the bottom layers dry faster than the top layers.

A few more terms to know…

Opaque – a solid colour Transparent – thin, clear, translucent Transfer paper – used for copying your drawing

onto your painting surface Medium – a substance applied to paint Fixative – protects from smudging, use after you

have drawn your image of the painting surface

Tips:

When working with oils use SMALL amounts. Always mix with the medium. Use a disposal palette such as wax paper. Wash your brushes very carefully using

soap.

Steps

1. Draw your image as accurately as possible on paper2. Transfer onto your canvas with transfer paper3. Spray with a thin layer of fixative (to be used outside)4. Begin the underpainting.5. Apply thin layers of colour (glazing). Repeat the

process several times (6-10 times).