The fertile umbers

South Street underpainting. Color begins to sprout.

Like the brown of the earth, those basic tones yield the rich fauna of a finished painting. It’s an early springtime environment, moist with solvent, promising a good bounty if properly nourished and respected.

Coles Street, Jersey City

And a good underpainting sometimes stands on its own pretty well. I’ve more than once looked back at an early stage in its umber tones and felt maybe it was done at that point. I strive to get the values right at that stage. That is more important to me than the specific placement of details. And to reinforce the values, I go beyond a monochromatic underpainting and go from burnt to raw umber and then mix in a bit of Payne’s gray to deepen the shadows.

I might even go in with opaque lights to model the composition a bit, sort of what I might do with a grisaille. I do like the feel at this point, as it defines the subject without fussing with coloring.

I had the good fortune of working in the graphic arts industry, and worked closely with printers, getting an understanding the color printing process. Seeing how in image separated into four inks, how contrast was increased for definition, how to saturate shadows. It got me to understand adjusting values to print best on paper. I see an underpainting as a single ink proof. A forecast of how my finished work will perform.

So these are glimpses of what’s underneath, a look back to the promise of springtime, when the seeds were planted.