I Tried a New Underpainting Medium Today!

'Light in the Darkness'            9x9             pastel          ©Karen Margulis
available $155

 I have a basket of supplies to try. They are new to me materials that I come across and want to play with. I don't often have free time to just play so these materials just gather in my overflowing basket. Today I decided to play. I rummaged through the basket and pulled out my new black and white Art Graf blocks.  I love Art Graf pigment squares. I use the earth tones and primary colors all of the time (I will have an article soon in the Pastel Journal about these wonderful little goodies)  But I have never had the chance to use the black and white squares.

Art Graf Pigment blocks in black, white and graphite

I decide to do a wet underpainting using the squares and I had the perfect subject. I have been wanting to paint these Queen Annes Lace against dark green foliage. I like the contrast between the light flowers and the deep rich dark greens. The black and white squares will be perfect to showcase this contrast.

Very little pigment is needed of rich results

I apply the Art Graf to a piece of Wallis shaded paper. It is a piece of seconds and I selected it because I wanted both the white and black to show up. It really takes very little pigment to produce a rich result when wet. I use a stiff brush and some rubbing alcohol to liquify the Art Graf. The results are in the photo below.

After wetting the pigment with rubbing alcohol

I loved using these black and white squares. I was able to make a wonderful value underpainting with black and white and a bit of gray where the pigments mixed. It was a simple roadmap to follow with my pastel layers.  I will definitely be playing with these squares again!

You can find them at Blicks online. Here is the link.