Acrylic Painting 5: Learning How To Colour Over An Underpainting

Here is my fifth acrylic painting and this time I was Learning How To Colour Over An Underpainting.

I tried using a grisaille (grey monochrome) underpainting.  I then painted my colours over the top.

This seemed to work quite well as the paints I am using were transparent enough to let the underpainting show through.

I also had a go at painting “lost edges”.  These are edges that are so blurred as to be “lost”.  I love seeing them as they lend a real painterly feel to a piece of work.

I learned a few things on the way:

  1. Underpainting really does work to provide a tonal variation underneath any subsequent application of colour.
  2. Using a grisaille underpainting didn’t affect the hue of the colour being glazed over the top.  This makes colour matching a bit easier.
  3. I probably should have planned in my lost edges earlier on i.e. at the underpainting stage instead of applying then right at the end.

Anyway, here is the final result (sorry – I forgot to take some process shots):

Acrylic5Bluetit

3 Replies to “Acrylic Painting 5: Learning How To Colour Over An Underpainting”

  1. Hi Catherine, thanks :).

    I’ve given these to my mum but I’ll probably be doing some more at some point. I’ll keep you posted!

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