Pronounced gris-i' (long I at the end), it is from the French gris, meaning gray. If you use brown as an underpainting, it is brunailles; green is verdailles, etc. But generally underpainting in one color is considered grisailles.
Originally this was an oil painting technique. You underpaint all the values either in gray, umber, sepia, or even India ink (not a shiny ink, but one that will absorb into the paper and allow the watercolor to absorb into paper), then you paint over it with thin glazes of color until you get what you want. It's almost like magic. Doing this in watercolor takes a little thought, but worth the effort. You have to use color that will not bleed or lift when you paint a glaze over it. (We call these colors "staining.")
My reference from unsplash by Garreth-Paul.
Done in notanizer with 6 values.
I used burnt umber in the grisailles below. Sometimes if I need to get darker, such as in the shadows, I will add some neutral tint to the umber. (you'll see that in the shadows below the vases and bowl)
When I paint an underpainting, I build up the values gradually, so that they sink into the paper. If I put too dark a layer on at one time, it is more likely to move or lift when I try to glaze over it. In the painting below I used burnt umber for the shading. ANY COLOR THAT WILL BE PURE AND SUNLIT should not be underpainted, regardless of the value, especially your yellows.
I was also experimenting with making a very dark background, so you will see the background color in black, not burnt umber. Normally, that's not my approach, but I was killing two birds with one stone.
colors I used in this black are carbazole violet, cascade green, and quin burnt orange. Plus whatever mud was on the palette.
Here is a good youtube on painting very dark backgrounds: with Susan Monroe. This is the method I used to create this dark black background.
Another suggestion from Anne Abgott
both are pretty short, like 7-9 minutes
I dried this completely, and was ready for the glazing process.
I used isoindoline yellow over the pot and part of the peaches; coral over the peaches; and pthalo blue over the bowl. I dried the first layer, and added more color. I found I had not shade the bottom of the yellow vase as much as I wanted, so just used some burnt umber over it. I also deepened some shadows under the blue bowl. I lifted a few hi-lites in the peaches.
VERY IMPORTANT when glazing color: Try to use a large brush and use a light touch so that you do not disturb the underpainting any more than necessary. Use a mixture that is not thin tea strength, more a coffee or cream thickness. You can go over any places that need more when it is dry.
The purpose of this process is thinking about one element at a time, first, value; second, color.
The Frugal Crafter, Lindsay Weirich, did a youtube on grisailles about 3 years ago. It's helpful to actually watch someone doing it. About 1 hour 20 minutes. She also has links to pattern to follow along.
Link below:
In her video she used QoR neutral tint, which is more staining than the Daniel Smith.
Some people wanted to try doing a portrait in grisaille. It is the same process. You just have to be more particular about your underpainting color.
I did a blog on a portrait, using Elvis as a model. See Feb. 4 of 2021. There is also a portrait of my granddaughter, Iris, on the Oct 13 and 31 of 2019 blogs. (Oct 13 is monochrome; the 31st is colorized after a grisailles underpainting.)
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