Which Underpainting Technique is Better...Wet or Dry?

'Be Kind to Bees I'               5x7               pastel                 ©Karen Margulis
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'Be Kind to Bees II'               5x7          pastel         purchase $65

Wet or Dry? This is the question of the day! I have been asked this question many times and realized I have never really answered it on the blog. I am talking about underpaintings for pastel. There are so many wonderful options for starting a pastel painting. Some of these involve wetting the pastel or using a wet medium such as watercolor. The other option is to do a dry underpainting or wash...simply apply an initial layer of pastel and rub it in with fingers or tools.

So which underpainting type is better? It really is a matter of personal preference but I do have some thoughts to share on the subject.

• I do both wet and dry and truly like them equally! Each type will produce different results so my choice depends on the concept for my painting (or my mood!)

• DRY WASH: I choose this underpainting when I don't want to wait for anything to dry. I also use it to set up a value map so it serves a purpose. It is great for my quicker studies and plein air paintings.It is my go-to technique and I use it for the majority of my paintings.

• WET UNDERPAINTINGS: I choose wet when I want to be playful. When I want something interesting and fun to respond I turn to wet washes or wet media such as watercolor or oil stains. Certain subjects work well with wet underpaintings. I have discovered this through trial and error but all of my experiments give me a better understanding of the potential for each wet technique.

TIP: Try them all! Experiment with the many options for both wet and dry underpaintings so you can make more informed intuitive choices.

For today's paintings I took the same subject and tried both a dry wash and a watercolor underpainting. Each underpainting led to very different finishes even though I used a similar color palette. I covered up more of the watercolor than I wanted but I was in playful mode so I sprayed it with alcohol. Wet = Playful  Dry = Purposeful

Dry Wash underpainting with pastel rubbed in with a piece of pipe foam
which set up a value map. Rubbing it in let me decide where I wanted to make more clarity.

Wet underpainting with watercolor on Multimedia Artboard

Wet again with a sprite of alcohol then scratched with a stick to
create more texture in the grasses. It was a playful and fun approach.

reference photo