Portrait Artist Forum - View Single Post - Staining your canvas . . . what do you use

Paul Foxton · 06-15-2006, 05:51 AM

I find it interesting that Sargent used thick paint for darks. Lately I've been experimenting with a method of building up paintings based mostly on some reading I've been doing about Rubens's technique, at least what the author assumed his technique was:

He contends that Rubens used a grey ground, in which he left texture from the brush strokes visible. He would then build up shadow areas with brown transparent glazes, which would allow the brush strokes of the ground to show through the glazes in shadow areas to give the shadows variation and life. The light reflecting off the ground behind the glazes would give the shadows depth. Apparently Rembrandt's way of handling shadows and lights was similar, but with a slower, more methodical approach and much thicker impastos for light areas with the colour applied over them in glazes.

I work alla prima, so don't build up successive glazes, but based on the above have been trying out a similar approach:

First the support is covered with a couple of coats of Roberson's acrylic gesso, with a big brush to leave brush strokes standing proud. Then, when dry, the gesso is sanded back a bit but still with some texture from the brush strokes left. I then apply a mix of ultramarine and burnt sienna in fast drying alkyd, rubbing it with a cloth rather than painting it. This brings up the texture of the brush strokes in the ground.

Next stage is to lay in the shadows with a mixture of burnt sienna and ultramarine, laid in quite thin but with quite a high percentage of whatever medium I'm using - lately I've been favouring Roberson's maroger. These shadow areas are kind of scumbled in, letting the mix shift more to ultramarine or sienna depending on whether the shadow area looks warmer or cooler. This isn't strictly a tonal underpainting, since tone supplied by local colour is ignored, I only paint the shadows at this point.

Once this is done, I start laying in colour on the areas in full light with thicker, opaque paint, followed by dragging some colour into the shadow gazes where it's needed, i.e. where I can see some colour in the shadow. Throughout I'm trying to match the colours I see as closely as I possibly can.

So far I'm finding that this method gives me a stronger impression of light in the painting, with the opaque areas with full light falling on them coming forward, set off by warm, soft shadows. I'm pretty happy with the way the experiments are going so far, but I've also found that it's easy to overdo the texture in the ground. On a recent small painting of a bottle and a lemon, the bottle was painted with very thin paint in this way, and it did give some impression of the transparency of the glass, against the thicker opaque paint of the highlights on the lemon. Far be it from me to argue with Sargent of course, I'm just describing a different approach to shadows and transparency which seems to be working for me so far.

I've yet to try this on a portrait though, I'm not painting portraits yet. The above is a very crude version of what I've read about Rubens's technique, applied to small still life paintings on MDF, (Medium Density Fibre Board - I don't know what the name for it is in the US.)

Sharon, you've got me worried with what Michael Harding's been saying to you about acrylic gesso and alkyd based under painting. I recently switched to using his paints on your recommendation, and I'm very impressed with them. This man really knows his stuff. I too would very much appreciate a bit more information on that if you can find it. No problem if you can't though, I can drop him a line myself.

Sorry for the long post. This thread has got me exited!

06-15-2006, 05:51 AM	#19
Paul Foxton Juried Member Joined: Feb 2006 Location: Epsom, United Kingdom Posts: 76	I find it interesting that Sargent used thick paint for darks. Lately I've been experimenting with a method of building up paintings based mostly on some reading I've been doing about Rubens's technique, at least what the author assumed his technique was: He contends that Rubens used a grey ground, in which he left texture from the brush strokes visible. He would then build up shadow areas with brown transparent glazes, which would allow the brush strokes of the ground to show through the glazes in shadow areas to give the shadows variation and life. The light reflecting off the ground behind the glazes would give the shadows depth. Apparently Rembrandt's way of handling shadows and lights was similar, but with a slower, more methodical approach and much thicker impastos for light areas with the colour applied over them in glazes. I work alla prima, so don't build up successive glazes, but based on the above have been trying out a similar approach: First the support is covered with a couple of coats of Roberson's acrylic gesso, with a big brush to leave brush strokes standing proud. Then, when dry, the gesso is sanded back a bit but still with some texture from the brush strokes left. I then apply a mix of ultramarine and burnt sienna in fast drying alkyd, rubbing it with a cloth rather than painting it. This brings up the texture of the brush strokes in the ground. Next stage is to lay in the shadows with a mixture of burnt sienna and ultramarine, laid in quite thin but with quite a high percentage of whatever medium I'm using - lately I've been favouring Roberson's maroger. These shadow areas are kind of scumbled in, letting the mix shift more to ultramarine or sienna depending on whether the shadow area looks warmer or cooler. This isn't strictly a tonal underpainting, since tone supplied by local colour is ignored, I only paint the shadows at this point. Once this is done, I start laying in colour on the areas in full light with thicker, opaque paint, followed by dragging some colour into the shadow gazes where it's needed, i.e. where I can see some colour in the shadow. Throughout I'm trying to match the colours I see as closely as I possibly can. So far I'm finding that this method gives me a stronger impression of light in the painting, with the opaque areas with full light falling on them coming forward, set off by warm, soft shadows. I'm pretty happy with the way the experiments are going so far, but I've also found that it's easy to overdo the texture in the ground. On a recent small painting of a bottle and a lemon, the bottle was painted with very thin paint in this way, and it did give some impression of the transparency of the glass, against the thicker opaque paint of the highlights on the lemon. Far be it from me to argue with Sargent of course, I'm just describing a different approach to shadows and transparency which seems to be working for me so far. I've yet to try this on a portrait though, I'm not painting portraits yet. The above is a very crude version of what I've read about Rubens's technique, applied to small still life paintings on MDF, (Medium Density Fibre Board - I don't know what the name for it is in the US.) Sharon, you've got me worried with what Michael Harding's been saying to you about acrylic gesso and alkyd based under painting. I recently switched to using his paints on your recommendation, and I'm very impressed with them. This man really knows his stuff. I too would very much appreciate a bit more information on that if you can find it. No problem if you can't though, I can drop him a line myself. Sorry for the long post. This thread has got me exited!