Initial sketch, simplifying the view.
Painting with water and black gesso onto canvas. Dries FAST.
Transparent pigment & galkyd medium as a glaze over gesso.
Start in with regular oil paints, having let glaze set up for 10-20 minutes.
Final, with small bits of black gesso and glaze showing.
I have found an interesting sight, the chairs on the porch. First I do a loose sketch to familarize myself with what some of the main elements are. Some compositional decisions are forming already, what to eliminate, what to emphasize.
I like to demonstrate an unusual painting technique of laying in with black gesso, glazing with colored transparent paint, then painting with regular opaque paint. This give a quick build up of layered information, which is rather great for plein air painting. After the sketch, I loosely paint in my composition on the canvas. 98% of this will be covered up, but it's a nice "road map" for my painting.
Next I mix up a glaze with a transparent pigment and medium,only a tiny amount of pigment necessary. Cover the entire canvas, gesso and all.
While the glaze is getting a little tacky, I set up my regular palette with oil paint. This takes me a few minutes, and so it works out nicely to let the glaze set up a little. I can even get started mixing colors ahead.
So, the painting is started, and I haven't even put on any paint.
I often paint from back to front in plein air painting, I can get a good sense of overlap, without fussing with my paint. By laying in all the supporting cast a head of time, I know how far I can push the focus of the painting with color and contrast,in this case, at the chairs. At the end, there is very little black gesso showing, but it adds a nice layered look, for a painting that was done fairly quickly on location.
Demonstration from Pearl Island, a small island near Roche Harbor.
This sequence show, 1. the thumbnail sketch 2. Laying in with black gesso 3. Transparent glaze 4. Using opaques 5.Final painting
