Wash/Imprematura

[Senor Bonifas]

I have been working with acrylics for almost a year now and what to switch wuickly to oils just to see how they work. What I want to do though is start out doing a Grissaille, but the only confusion I have is after you sketch out the picture, what do you do after that? Do you go straight to the underpainting with just grays,whites,blacks variations, or do you put what I understand as the impreamtura or wash layer on before?

Sorry if this is in the wrong forum, please re direct it as needed.

Thanks
Senor B

[rroberts]

Hello Senor B, and welcome to the oil forum.
Check out these underpainting tutorials:

Underpainting Primer

Glazing Tutti Fruity

Paintings For Glazing Demo

Technically speaking, an imprimatura is the first oil layer after making or transferring your drawing - a transparent coat that is equal in value to the middle tone of largest, lightest object in painting.

An imprimatura can be independent of grisailles. Many artists lay down an imprimatura just to give the canvas some starting tone. You can do an imprimatura in any color you choose, usually relative to the color scheme of the painting.

A good thinning medium for imprimatura is 1/2 linseed, 1/2 turps. This mix will help prevent under-binding, but still dries fast.

cheers!

[Senor Bonifas]

In the first thread, I have tried(and am still working on) the painting with the charcoal under"drawing" then painting, but I am still confused as to what to do when there is no fine detailed charcoal drawing, rather you paint in the values rather than drawing them in with charcoal. I think that my understanding of a impreamtura layer(shown in the 3rd link) is off because Marty describes an imprematura layer composed of turpentine and colours, but the imprematura my art teacher had me use at school was like a clear red blood colour? Am i being mislead here or do you truly make "imprematura's" from turpentine and colours? Lastly, why would you put turpentine into a layer when after all, I thought turpentine took paint away?(at least form bushes)

Thanks

Senor B

And by the way, the imprematura thag my teahcer made me use, could it have been made up of turp and red colour?(He explained ot me that old Renaissance artist's used it for their first layer after a charcoal drawing.)

[WFMartin]

An imprimatura is not an image layer--it is a flatly-toned canvas in one color.

This is a 16" x 20" canvas primed with several layers of acrylic primer, and then covered with a coating of oil paint (an imprimatura), composed of Raw Umber and Permalba White. There is no special ratio of Umber to white; I simply make a "nice" middle tone. It is one oil paint layer, accomplished in one session. Some residual brush stokes are evident, but very few, and NO impasto!


An imprimatura can be nearly any color. I've heard of artists who use a garish red or Ultramarine Blue. I prefer a more peaceful color that simply adds a tone to the otherwise stark, white canvas. Not only does it provide a pleasing tone upon which to begin the grisaille underpainting of your subject, but it also sizes the surface of the acrylic primer, thereby keeping your image layer from being absorbed into the acrylic surface. This thinned imprimatura serves that purpose.

The medium I use is a "lean" version of Linseed Oil and Turpentine. This is represented by a ratio of about 1 part Linseed Oil to 5 parts Turpentine. I seldom use Turpentine, alone, as it has a tendency to cause the paint, itself, to become "underbound" (not enough oil). This manifests itself in the tendency of the paint layer to "chalk off," when rubbed with the fingers after drying.

After the imprimatura has dried, but is still reasonably "fresh", I then transfer my sketch to its surface, by applying soft vine charcoal onto the back of a tracing paper containing my sketch. The charcoal sticks wonderfully well to the imprimatura, and the excess charcoal can be brushed right off, using either a brush or a paper towel, without disturbing the transferred charcoal, whatsoever.

Bill

[Senor Bonifas]

Alright I think i get it now, last question, if i have already started a drawing on the canvas(graphite) can i erase it, then color the lines back in with charcoal, then put the layers on top of that to start the grisaille?

If so I think i get it finally,

Thanks all,

Senor B

[rroberts]

You could erase the graphite until you barely see it, then use charcoal, but why not use paint? A pale mix of something like raw umber + white. By thinning it as Bill mentioned above, then letting it dry, you have already started the painting process.

If you draw directly with charcoal, or use charcoal to transfer outlines from a drawing on tracing paper, you can again gently rub away the lines until they are barely visible and then go over the lines with paint.

With charcoal, you can even set out your large tonal values, just like a charcoal drawing. When finished, you can spray the drawing with a workable fixative before proceeding to paint.

cheers!

[Senor Bonifas]

Alright, thanks for the help and I finally get it, let's just hope my painting doesnt seem to be this complicated.

Senor B

[rroberts]

You'll have the hang of it in no time. We look forward to seeing what you accomplish.

[WFMartin]

Drawing with paint, as Robert mentioned, is the true artist way of getting an image to canvas. It is archivally sound, and extremely effective. If you can draw with a pencil or charcoal, you can draw with paint.

You'll do just fine, I'm sure.

Bill

[Senor Bonifas]

Well i am plannign on doing three 6x6 canvas's of flowers for my mom, I just drew out the picture and erased. Im going to spray it first then put a thin coat of imprematura onto it, then finally start the grisaille underpainting. I'll be sure to take progress photos and keep you guys up to date.