Art

Blueberries Anyone?

Creating an underpainting in acrylic

Acrylic painting by author

Is anyone in the mood for some fruit? How about a fresh blueberry that you can pick right off the plant?

Typically I sketch and begin adding colors to the canvas. This time, I opted for a different method, creating an underpainting using burnt sienna and unbleached titanium. Using these colors, I painted my dark and light areas.

The underpainting did not take a very long time. Once dried, I began adding color until I achieved my desired outcome.

Underpainting dates back to the sixteenth century to Titian, known for his paintings Venus of Urbino and The Assumption of the Virgin.

Underpainting: Applying a layer of paint to your canvas or surface before painting it.

There are two methods used to create underpainting:

1. Imprimatura: Applying a thin, transparent layer of paint to the canvas so that the background color remains visible.
2. Grisaille: Applying layers of a medium in different shades to achieve light/dark values before adding other colors or glazing.