More fun with Coloured Grounds
In this article (Coloured ground article) shows how I prepared an opaque, neutral grey coloured ground for a Still Life, and in my last article (Painting tips for Beginners) I wrote that coloured grounds are traditionally done in earth colours such as Sepia or yellow Ochre – It doesn’t have to be that way; As shown in my last article, I used a turquoise ground colour for this painting combined with dry brush technique – But again, who says that coloured grounds have to be uniform in colour? And why not have a little fun playing with transparencies? In the following examples I applied multi-coloured grounds, waited for it to dry and then applied a second semi-transparent ground on top.
For the first multi-coloured ground, I carelessly placed different colours with a hog bristle, using more solvent than I normally do, to allow colours to drip by tilting the canvas vertically and let gravity do its work. :) I also used a cloth to randomly sponge-out some of the colour mixture, letting canvas spots show through – Once dry, I added a beige ground which, I wiped-off with a dry cloth – I could have added more layers like this but for the needs of this painting I decided not to.
In this second example (below), I applied the multi-coloured ground with horizontal brush strokes and wiped-off with a cloth, also in a horizontal stroke – Once dry, I added the 2nd ground using the same beige as in the first example, only wiped it off unevenly and combining horizontal and diagonal strokes.
Although these could make great abstract works, I’m planning to paint realistic subjects (a clay pot on one and an old vine roots on the other) that will blend into the “abstract” background; I hope to achieve this unfinished painting look.
