Fascination with Underpainting for pastel

I was quite surprised when I reviewed my posts over the years and saw how little, I have written about Underpainting. For the many years I operated my Carp, Ontario studio, I offered two week long pastel workshops: Underpainting for pastel, and Pastel and the Figure: Voice through Colour. They were both offered once a year, for many years. Oh- also just my 5 day Intro to pastel!

Every time I offered the week long underpainting workshop, I was frustrated at how limiting one week was. It was a constant review of what can I cut out, and what are the most important elements of the workshop to keep.
Reason: The possibilities within Underpainting, like any creative element, is infinite.

Here is my sample board, with three different papers that can take an underpainting, and are also ideal for pastel, from left to right: U-art sanded pastel paper, watercolour paper, and printmaking paper. (Note: If you would like to purchase U-art paper, it is available at the Drawing house in Barrie. 

 12x18 600 grade or 12x18 400 grade      Price for both are $9.41. 

Drawing House

60 Mary Street, 

Barrie, ON

L4N 1T1

Tel. (705) 503-2996

Website: drawinghouse.ca)

A students clearly envisioned composition for underpainting

The underpainting, and underpining of a solid composition 

pastel colours worked up, the purple underpainted colour worked perfectly to support the trees in the background, while the pink sky provided a perfect harmonizing contract to the cools in the sky. 

                                                Underpainting and starting to work up the pastel

I love a workshop for variety of ideas. Here's the underpainting

Here's the abstract, which was so fun to watch develop!

                                   

The underpainting in monochromatic purples,....the pastel layer on top, semi -abstracted and stylized. Tape across the bottom as the student liked the way it worked with a gutsy compositional cut.

                       

A simple underpainting here-pink sky, deep red in the water and a deep blue foreground to support the depth of water. On theft, the pastel was just starting,....and to the right, with quite a bit of the working up. 

Many times, students would ask me about underpainting, after having read one article on it. Ideas about what underpainting is, were very limiting. Thus, I designed my workshop around showing how there are many, many possibilities. Through the many approaches to underpainting, I hope to show my students that with some experience, one can start to make more and more specific decisions around creating the effects you want.

This underpainting was three, close in value shades or red. Warm and cool. I'm showing this phase so you can see the composition and the underpainting. As maker, it's up to you, how much of the underpainting shows through, how much gets covered. 

You'd have to see the piece in person, to see the red showing through. 

The clear and true most important thing about underpainting is that: IT IS FUN. Fun, to work pastel on an already coloured surface, one that moves from one colour to another. To not control, but rather to work with the underpainting. It gives us the joy of working spontaneously.

Planning an underpainting for pastel and working with your limited and expanded palette is so complicated that one may not be able to control the effect, but rather work with what is. In our world of highly controlled processes, it's refreshing to be forced to play and let go of not controlling everything.

These are just some of the thoughts that went into planning a 2 day underpainting workshop given at the McMichael art gallery in April.

Next at McMichaels: Teaching Pastel Mastery as a night class, this coming fall. To ask questions, contact me at marg.ferraro@gmail.com. To register for this course, go to mcmichael.com and follow the links from learning to adult and look for pastel and my name.