DEMONSTRATION
Building Form in Blue
Once the drawing was completely sketched onto the linen, I began to build the form of the painting. Just as various colors of imprimatura can be used, so also can various colors be used to build form. Because the imprimatura acts as a middle value, darks can quickly be added with thin glazes of color to pin down the form, while highlights can be added in with white. The color combination that you use for these layers will affect the final painting, so some thought should be given as to the effect one wishes to create.
The combination of a burnt sienna imprimatura overlaid with an ultramarine blue and white value painting was apparently used by the French painter, William Adolphe Bouguereau, in the 19th Century with remarkable results. The blue, if allowed to play through the skin, produces the effect of the unoxidized blood flowing through arteries.
Other combinations that have been used in the past include brown on brown, black and white on grey, or green and white on grey, depending upon the nationality of the person being painting. Since Italians are said to have "olive" skin tones, a green underpainting is often used, as it was in the middle ages, whereas fairer skinned northern Europeans have more of a blue appearance to their skin.
Lighting and unity throughout the painting are also an issue to deal with. Because I wanted the whole painting that I was working on to be unified in the cool haze of a rainy day, I chose to paint the entire picture in degrees of ultramarine blue. However Diego Valasquez, in his painting The Toilet of Venus from around 1650, toned his entire canvas with an opaque layer of deep red except in the figure of Venus herself, which he left white. Thus he incorporated two distinct styles of painting into one picture: over the red ground he painted thin glazes of color, but over the lead white of Venus he painted rich opaque colors. By using the white ground selectively, he set the figure of Venus apart from the rest of the image so that she glows out from her surroundings. In my case, I wanted just the opposite: I wanted the girls to be a subtle part of their environment without stark contrast.
The lesson here is to not think that the way I painted this particular painting is THE ONLY way to paint. Experiment! Try different color combinations and see how they affect the end product.
