I was flipping through an issue of the Artist magazine and came across an article by Michael Chesley Johnson on using a complementary color underpainting for pastels. I thought I'd try it the way he suggests. I used my analogous color wheel for this. Looking at my reference photo I took each color section and found it's complement on my wheel and used a Nupastel to block it in. What I failed to do but will do it on the next one is to make sure I matched the correct value as well as the correct complement. I rubbed in the pastel with my finger but next time I will use alcohol I think. I will post the finished painting next.
Monday, March 23, 2009
Complementary Color Underpainting
I was flipping through an issue of the Artist magazine and came across an article by Michael Chesley Johnson on using a complementary color underpainting for pastels. I thought I'd try it the way he suggests. I used my analogous color wheel for this. Looking at my reference photo I took each color section and found it's complement on my wheel and used a Nupastel to block it in. What I failed to do but will do it on the next one is to make sure I matched the correct value as well as the correct complement. I rubbed in the pastel with my finger but next time I will use alcohol I think. I will post the finished painting next.
My friend Jerry Power uses underpainting in his studio paintings (see Jerrypowerart.com).
ReplyDeleteI am going to look for articles by Mr. Johnson, thanks for the tip!