A Different Approach to Starting

Jul 13

Two gouache paintings of Lyons, Colorado. One of the paintings has a yellow underpainting and the other painting has a red underpainting. — Gouache over a yellow underpainting, left; Gouache over a red underpainting, right.

I recently went to the very special wedding of two wonderful people in Lyons, Colorado. On my way back to the car, I noticed a view that took my breath away. Wanting to remember it, I snapped a pic.

Of course pictures rarely do nature justice, but they can be wonderful as references for paintings and composition studies. I recently discovered Illustrator and Designer Mary Sanche and Art Educator Ian Roberts on Youtube. Mary’s underpainting tutorial and Ian’s lesson on shapes inspired me to reach for my sketchbook and sketch that pic. Both Mary and Ian have clear, engaging, and uncluttered teaching styles, and I appreciated their intentional and unrushed pacing as they explained their art processes step-by-step.

Adding an underpainting can drastically change the feel of your composition (a light wash of yellow, blue, or red before the painting begins). Look at the difference a wash of yellow makes in comparison to red! The left’s yellow underpainting makes the scene feel like thunder and rain aren’t far away, while the red underpainting lends a hot and dry feeling to the sketch. Mary’s videos made me look forward to painting the same scene in different ways.

The sketch on the right was made before I decided to try breaking down the composition into simple shapes. Because I am a maximalist at heart, I could always use more practice in minimalism. Luckily, Ian Roberts has plenty of engaging videos about simplifying busy scenes for painting and drawing.

Thank you for checking in with me as a continue to learn. I hope this space is helpful for you, too! I’ve just added Mary and videos to my Art Studio playlist, be sure to check it out if you’re looking for inspiration! The playlist provides a great atmosphere for studio time, especially when casted to the television for maximum color, texture, and sound enjoyment. Although, my class used it on laptops, phones, and ipads during lockdown and still gave rave reviews.