Underpainting in progress

My New Year’s resolution was to spend more time on each painting — to make some really finished pieces. This is one of the few New Year’s resolutions I’ve ever kept, at least so far. I’ve spent several days on this “brunaille” — an underpainting made in just two colors, brown and white.

I imagine it will take even longer to glaze it (i.e., paint on top of it) with color. I’m not sure, because I normally don’t do underpaintings; this is an experiment. I think it’s a good start!

Geoff Watson, “Brunaille for a portrait,” oil on linen panel, 16” x 20,” 2020.

Lily

This is a photo of the early stage of a portrait that I started using only two colors, Burnt Sienna and white. Here I'd just started adding hints of color, but I was already running out of time, so the image looks rather ghostly. It's still interesting, and the likeness isn't bad. It helped that the model, Lily, held her pose so well. I went on to add some color, but I didn't finish; I like this "brunaille" version better. I'm hoping I'll get another chance to paint Lily so that I can finish the picture.

Geoff Watson, "Lily," oil on panel, 11" x 14," 2017.