Cassandra

"Cassandra" (pastel, 6x6 inches) sold

Another overlooked demo from July's workshop in SD. Purchased by a student, I had forgotten to get a photo when she was done, and luckily the gal who bought her was able to send me a pic before she framed her.

But I did have a photo of the underpainting. Cassandra was one of my assembly-line underpainting demo...

When creating my small "daily" paintings, I spread one layer of gold colored primer across large pieces of Gatorboard (or Yupo), then cut to size and transfer my drawings, working in 'batches' of 6 to 12 at a time. Then I underpaint in an "assembly-line," working each layer of primer on each painting in a row, then going back to the first for the next layer. I like to demo this process in my workshops with a "multi-demo", where I show this assembly line approach on 3 or 4 small paintings at once.

These first layers are gold colored. This is Golden brand Quinacridone Nickel Azo Gold fluid acrylic color mixed into Golden brand Pastel Ground at about a 1/4 (color/gel) ratio. The gel is clear, so the color mixture is semi-transparent, and gets darker on each application. I usually apply 2 more layers of the gold to get the light values of the underpainting established.

The final layer of primer here is the Art Spectrum (brand) Pastel Primer in the terra cotta color. I lay it into the darkest areas, then scrub and dry-brush it into the medium values of the gold to continue the value scale and add more depth to the monochromatic underpainting.

Occasionally on animals with black fur, I enjoy using the black Art Spectrum primer, or a mixture of the Golden pastel ground with Ultramarine blue fluid acrylic, which over the terra cotta color shows as a nice, rich dark value.

A cow underpainting with gold, terra cotta, and ultramarine blue.