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F r i d a y, O c t o b e r 2 4 , 2 0 1 4

Creating a Mood with Underpainting Colors

'Another Peaceful Day' 9x12 pastel ©Karen Margulis

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The possibilities are endless. I approach each blank piece of paper with eager
anticipation. I feel empowered. I am about to create something from nothing. Hopefully
it will be something compelling, or interesting or beautiful. It is up to me. I have the
power to take a scene and create the mood I wish to express. And I don't have to be
true to the scene. I can tweak it if I want.

I can make a landscape look bright and sunny. I can make it gray and moody. I can
change the season or time of day. It's such a wonderful thing to be an artist!

There are many ways to create a mood in a painting but one of my favorite techniques is
a simple four value underpainting. The mood is created by the colors that are selected
for the underpainting.
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 color blocks to help evaluate underpainting colors

There is no right or wrong color to choose for the underpainting. Each choice will result
in a different feeling to the painting because the underpainting colors will peek through
the top layers. This will effect how the top layers will appear. For example warm colors
underneath tend to create a sunnier, warmer feeling. How do we choose the
underpainting colors?

Practice. The more we experiment and try different underpainting colors,

the more intuitive our choices will become. Practice!!
Color Studies and Color Blocks are a quick way to judge how an
underpainting color will appear. Choose a color and pick 4 values of the
color. Make little blocks of color on a scrap piece of paper the same color as
the paper you will paint on. Now choose the colors you might use for your
top layers. Lightly layer the top colors over the underpainting blocks. Think
of theses as quick test strips. It is better to try out colors in small blocks than
experiment on your painting! ( I learned this great tip from Doug Dawson)
For the marsh painting in this post I wanted a moody, gray day feeling. When evaluating
possible underpainting colors I decided the Red Violets gave me the mood I was after. I
blocked in the painting with four values of Red Violet. You can see it peek through and
unify the whole painting.

TRY THIS: Cut 4-8 small pieces of paper. 4x6 or 5x7. Find a simple subject. Do at least
4 paintings using a different color for the underpainting in each study. Allow 15
minutes for each study. Compare your studies....what mood or feeling did each color
create?
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Karen at 5:27 PM

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6 comments:

Sandi Graham Pastels 6:35 PM

Thanks , Karen for this tip , I am doing this tomorrow and I know I'm going to learn a lot .
I will do 4 5x7 and use the color block values similar to yours . Have a simple photo and
see what I get. Very exciting study . I'll let you know how it went . Sandi
Reply

Catherine M 8:05 AM
This is awesome. I am starting a large commissioned piece today and will try this before
diving in! Thank you for sharing.
Reply

Unknown 1:25 PM
Thanks for the post today.
It remind me of all the pictures you have on your wall (saw them in the background in
your youtube demonstrations) -same subject, but different colors .... can you tell a little
more about them, please?
Tina
Denmark
Reply

BJR 6:13 PM
Awesome!!I LOVE your marsh paintings especially! This is beautiful!...
Reply

robertsloan2art 10:00 PM
Oh wow! I usually do either complementary underpainting, literal same-color
underpainting or Colourist underpainting (warms in light, colds in shadow, bright colors.)
:
 Your approach is a great one. So much variety and so much control. Thank you so much
for this article. I have to try it - some "Crazy" underpainting experiments I did once in a
while that worked now make sense to me.

The painting is wonderful. I love the beauty and feel of it. Looks cold and damp! Sweater
weather. Peaceful if you're healthy and outdoorsy and love the chill of autumn, got me
wincing in pain but still loving the look and imagining being able to go out in that kind of
weather. It's like my painting snowscapes, the sort of scene that makes me imagine
painting it from a window.
Reply

Karen 10:21 AM
Thanks everyone for taking the time to comment! I don't always have time to respnd but I
enjoy each comment and I know everyone else enjoys the conversations! Keep
commenting!!

Tina, Great idea for a blog topic. Those little 5x7 were part of a project I did...100
variations on one simple subject.
Reply

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