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See art in a fresh way.

This is a 9x12" panel canvas, oil, and medium (1/3 turpenoid, 1/3 dammar varnish, 1/3 stand oil).

The approach is great for three reasons:

1. It enables the painter to work quickly (an absolute necessity for outdoor, quick painting in under an hour).

2. This approach keeps the highlighted areas clean and bright. Which solves the problem of the oils' tendency to become muddy.

3. This technique easily merges, or groups all the shadow's colors--giving them a translucent, natural feeling.

Okay, let's start with the underpainting.

The first thing to do is coat the canvas in a dark tone. Preferably, a dark, muted blue, purple, or black mixture.

The reason for these colors is that they can mix more easily with additional colors for a clean palette. Brown, on the other hand, dulls every other color it touches.

To start, I have black, blue, and purple on my palette; medium, and a good sized brush. This one is about 1' wide.

Later, you will need plenty of paper towels, cotton balls, or rags. Also, lots of Q-tips can be handy.

I try to cover the canvas in less than one minute.

I really cannot make a mistake here. I just jump in like a child and goop the paint on.

I try to compose the piece in 2 to 4 minutes, literally as quickly as I can.

Using cotton balls, paper towels, or rags, I begin to wipe off paint from the highlighted areas.

Here I am wiping off the bright sidewalk area.

(The purple area above my hand is glare from the flash).

I leave the shadow areas alone!

Again, I don't touch the shadow or cast shadow areas.

For the corrugated, metal gate I used about 12 Q-tips to wipe off the paint. The gate's ridges were highlighted, but they also had cast shadows.

----

Okay. That is it. My underpainting is finished. I spent no more than ten or fifteen minutes on it and now I am ready to paint in earnest.

In Plein Air Painting, Part 2, the next stage will show you how to use the dark, wet underpainting to create lovely hues in the shadows. And you will learn how to finish with your brightest lights and colors. 

Go on to part 2.

Michael Newberry
New York, October 12, 2008