Panel One-Mother and Daughter

WEEK 4.0

Block in of colour. The under painting and first coat.

Personal research

I read a number of articles this week in my research for he how to begin to paint my composition.

Preparation and process

Once the design was rendered in pencil and adjustments where made. I worked a bit backwards and applied a coat of gesso over my initial drawing to ensure the canvas was prepared for the oil paint and to tidy up my mark making. Once this was done i outlined my design in conte crayon reflecting a similar approach to Beckmann who used charcoal to outline his figures. The final preparation of the canvas and the blocking in of the colours  took most of the day.

FIG 1: Blocking in the background was the logical first step.

FIG 2: Blocking in the skin colour. I was a tad unsure of how to do this so referred back to the Beckmann Mother and Daughter example. He used an impasto finish of what seems like many layers. The painting technique is quiet rough and ready though there is obvious modelling and care taken with the tonal features of the skin.From my observations of Beckmann’s technique I painted the skin  darker and decided to add the highlights latter.I used a combination of Burnt Siena , Burnt Umber with a touch of crimson and white I indicated the presence of light and shade by rubbing back the canvas surface allowing the whiteness of the gesso to shine through.The black conte muddied the colour somewhat, but noted that it lost its smudginess once it was mixed with oil.

FIG 3: I blocked in the colours for the two protagonists with the final colours in mind. The mixing of the colour with the black of the conte crayon was a natural and unavoidable process so  used the black to build the tone of the figures. I particularly liked the effect and contrast on the daughter’s yellow shirt.

FIG 4: Blocking in the background, the cage and the angel/ Peter Pan figure. The green foliage was painted with Lemon Yellow, Ultramarine Blue and Burnt Umber. I’m questioning whether Beckmann knocked back his colours to show distance as most of his images are tight and contained compositions.

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