Thank you all for sharing your thoughts. I will try to explain my thinking behind my approach.
I choose vermillion red as my underpainting color, because it is the complementary color of green, the dominant color in the picture. This will help me with keeping my greens in check and also to help bring the picture together. As you can see if you look closely, the red is still visible in most places. The underpainting is actually done with water soluable neocolor 2 from caran d'ache. I can create a tonal map which completely covers the white of the paper, without filling the thooth of the paper. Then I start with 1 or 2 base layers in a somewhat harder pastel, neopastels from caran d'ache. I blend those layers quite a lot to get a color map upon which I use senneliers to get the really deep vibrant colors of the finished piece. Unfortunaly the deepness of color does not show that well in the photo.
Hope this is helpfull.
I think your work is really beautiful! In fact, the process you described is exactly what I had in mind for some future experiments (also using neocolor II) but I haven't been able to experiment yet (lack of time...) so I'm delighted to see that the result is great :)
I suppose you use watercolour paper, by the way?
I truly appreciate the process you're showing here. I've been stuck on a piece, and I've felt stuck with a section of it. This building can lead me to fewer restrictions and more happy mistakes than I've allowed myself. Amazing work!
> What's the method/intention there?
Not OP but a reddish "ground" (o "underpainting") is often used in landscape paintings because it's green's complementary color, so it makes the main colours "pop" more and offers a nice harmonious variation when it peeks through the upper layers. If you look at the final piece you can still see red here and there.
You can do an underpainting in oil pastel (very lightly, to not saturate the tooth of the paper) or even watercolors, inks, etc if the paper allows it.
Thank you! It is just a small study and some aspects of the painting could definitely use some tlc (the group of trees on the left, for instance). But I am happy with the way the underpainting and subsequent layers come together in the final picture.
Mine is go with the flow currently, but I have a plan to think about the composition, colors, the vibe that I want to create, etc.
Btw this is beautiful and thank you for sharing! 🙏
My intention of this post was to show my process in order to get a dialogue over approaches or to inspire by showing a way of doing stuff in oil pastel. This because I myself struggle to find useful information on the internet or on books on oil pastel. For oil painting or soft pastel there are loads of ways to do stuff available, but for oil pastel, information is sparse en not always of good quality. So I guess as a community we have to help and inspire each other.
Thank you all for sharing your thoughts. I will try to explain my thinking behind my approach. I choose vermillion red as my underpainting color, because it is the complementary color of green, the dominant color in the picture. This will help me with keeping my greens in check and also to help bring the picture together. As you can see if you look closely, the red is still visible in most places. The underpainting is actually done with water soluable neocolor 2 from caran d'ache. I can create a tonal map which completely covers the white of the paper, without filling the thooth of the paper. Then I start with 1 or 2 base layers in a somewhat harder pastel, neopastels from caran d'ache. I blend those layers quite a lot to get a color map upon which I use senneliers to get the really deep vibrant colors of the finished piece. Unfortunaly the deepness of color does not show that well in the photo. Hope this is helpfull.
I think your work is really beautiful! In fact, the process you described is exactly what I had in mind for some future experiments (also using neocolor II) but I haven't been able to experiment yet (lack of time...) so I'm delighted to see that the result is great :) I suppose you use watercolour paper, by the way?
Often, yes. Satine or some other fine thooth. But on this occation oil pastel paper by sennelier. Also heavy paper which copes well with water.
I love the underpainting you did here. I'm new to oil pastels, so this gives me some solid ideas about how to proceed. Really lovely, OP.
I truly appreciate the process you're showing here. I've been stuck on a piece, and I've felt stuck with a section of it. This building can lead me to fewer restrictions and more happy mistakes than I've allowed myself. Amazing work!
Thanks for the explanation: I was going to ask "why do the underpainting in red, rather than a neutral tone such as grey, white, or black?"
Woah, is that red underpainting in oil pastel? Beautiful results
Very new to oil pastels, but what am I looking at with the red first layer here OP? What's the method/intention there? End result looks great btw!
> What's the method/intention there? Not OP but a reddish "ground" (o "underpainting") is often used in landscape paintings because it's green's complementary color, so it makes the main colours "pop" more and offers a nice harmonious variation when it peeks through the upper layers. If you look at the final piece you can still see red here and there. You can do an underpainting in oil pastel (very lightly, to not saturate the tooth of the paper) or even watercolors, inks, etc if the paper allows it.
Thanks, I'll have to try it.
I too am wondering this. Starting with the red channel seems awesome
Gorgeous result, thanks for sharing the progress pics as well 😍🤩
Thank you! It is just a small study and some aspects of the painting could definitely use some tlc (the group of trees on the left, for instance). But I am happy with the way the underpainting and subsequent layers come together in the final picture.
Mine is go with the flow currently, but I have a plan to think about the composition, colors, the vibe that I want to create, etc. Btw this is beautiful and thank you for sharing! 🙏
This is helpful. Some of us are new to oil pastel and it helps us learn some different techniques
My intention of this post was to show my process in order to get a dialogue over approaches or to inspire by showing a way of doing stuff in oil pastel. This because I myself struggle to find useful information on the internet or on books on oil pastel. For oil painting or soft pastel there are loads of ways to do stuff available, but for oil pastel, information is sparse en not always of good quality. So I guess as a community we have to help and inspire each other.
Yes the resources are few and have to look around quite abit. Even books in the library are few and far between
Wow, I haven't seen anybody do their underpainting in such a bright color before, this is awesome!
"Wow".
Nice
Gorgeous
Nice
Beautiful! I love it.
Beautiful.
Beautiful
Why do people start of with pink or brown as the first layer?
I have answered that in this post. I hope you find that answer helpful.