Indirection Painting or the Flemish technique can be broken down into five steps:
- Imprimatura or Ground
- Underdrawing
- Underpainting / Dead Color
- Brunaille
- Verdaccio
- Grisaille
- Overpainting
- Semi-Transparent Glazes
Why the Imprimatura?
The imprimatura, or "first paint layer," is the initial stain of color painted over the blank ground of your support. This is usually done before a sketch is laid down. Using an imprimatura is as common in oil painting as white paper is in watercolor. The imprimatura can help create a unified color harmony throughout the colors painted on top of it and reduce the time and effort needed to arrive at a certain value range. If, while painting, you ever stand back and feel that your colors don't quite "match," try starting your work with an imprimatura. This can help create balance and unity.
Colored Imprimaturas
Traditionally the imprimatura was almost always moderate in intensity and value, and tended to rely on the low cost and quick dry qualities of earth pigments. Below is a list, from the Complete Oil Painter by Brian Gorst, of colors commonly used for imprimaturas. Where I can, I have included links to examples of each color being used in the description.
1. Gray: The main function of gray is to remove the glaring whiteness of the original ground. A light-toned gray is the multi-purpose imprimatura and is useful for all genres. It also allows flexibility when your color scheme is still undecided. It was sometimes used by artists such as Monet.
2. Terre Verte: This earth green was often used under areas of flesh by Byzantine and Medieval painters, such as Duccio, of the 13th and 14th centuries, but had continued use even past Michelangelo. The green helps neutralize the effects of strong pinks and reds, allowing for a natural skin color.
3. Earth Red/Burnt Sienna: Used by landscape artists to give breath to green foliage, it also creates a mauve hue when sky and clouds are painted over it. This effect can be seen in works by Turner. These colors are also used by figure and portrait painters to help establish warm shadow masses, and was often used in the French figurative tradition by artists ranging from Poussin to Degas.
4. Dark Brown or "bole:" A bole ground is usually an opaque mixture of Earth or Mars Red, black, and a small amount of Yellow Ochre. Still used today by traditional portrait and figure painters, a bole background came into style by artists such as Caravaggio and the young Velazquez.
5. Yellow Ocher/Raw Sienna: These earth yellows provide a rich, warm imprimatura which maintains a sense of luminosity. Used by landscape and portrait painters to give a work a warm, golden undertone. You can see this used in works by Rubens.
6. Burnt Umber/Raw Umber: Both are cheap, quick-drying, and semi-transparent, making them ideal for a thin imprimatura. These colors were used by artists such as da Vinci and Van Eyck.
7. Light Blue: Sometimes preferred by alla prima painters as a luminous base, using a blue imprimatura allows for water, skies, and atmospheric effects to be developed quickly. I have no idea who starts out with blue.
8. White: A plain white imprimatura is the most luminous imprimatura for glazing. The drawback is that it makes opaque paint appear darker by contrast. The white ground was first consistently used by Manet, and then later by artists such as Seurat and Derain.
Looking back through art history's use of imprimaturas can help you decide on the look and feel you would like to have in your own paintings, and is always the first step in copying a master's work.
Monet vs Manet
Looking at the top image of this post you will see two paintings by famous artists, Monet and Manet.
Manet was known for using white as his imprimatura, and this is exactly one of the reasons why the French Salon rejected his work. A white imprimatura can be difficult to work with when you do not understand how it can affect your color palette.
Using a white imprimatura should be done with purpose, as Manet did. You can see in Manet's Luncheon on the Grass how the white creates an unbalanced color harmony. The darks become too dark and lights too light against the white background. The blues and green seem to stand apart verses meld together and the yellows don't quite work wth their surrounding browns.
Manet did this on purpose. If this is also your purpose, run with the white, but be careful and aware that sometimes it just doesn't work out.
Monet on the other hand almost always used a colored imprimatura. While he did occasionally use white, you will usually see light blue (left), gray (middle), or yellow (right) coming through his works. His use of the imprimatura is a perfect example of how the correct imprimatura can help brightly painted, multi-colored works maintain a balanced color harmony.
Traditionally the imprimatura was almost always moderate in intensity and value, and tended to rely on the low cost and quick dry qualities of earth pigments. Below is a list, from the Complete Oil Painter by Brian Gorst, of colors commonly used for imprimaturas. Where I can, I have included links to examples of each color being used in the description.
2. Terre Verte: This earth green was often used under areas of flesh by Byzantine and Medieval painters, such as Duccio, of the 13th and 14th centuries, but had continued use even past Michelangelo. The green helps neutralize the effects of strong pinks and reds, allowing for a natural skin color.
3. Earth Red/Burnt Sienna: Used by landscape artists to give breath to green foliage, it also creates a mauve hue when sky and clouds are painted over it. This effect can be seen in works by Turner. These colors are also used by figure and portrait painters to help establish warm shadow masses, and was often used in the French figurative tradition by artists ranging from Poussin to Degas.
4. Dark Brown or "bole:" A bole ground is usually an opaque mixture of Earth or Mars Red, black, and a small amount of Yellow Ochre. Still used today by traditional portrait and figure painters, a bole background came into style by artists such as Caravaggio and the young Velazquez.
5. Yellow Ocher/Raw Sienna: These earth yellows provide a rich, warm imprimatura which maintains a sense of luminosity. Used by landscape and portrait painters to give a work a warm, golden undertone. You can see this used in works by Rubens.
6. Burnt Umber/Raw Umber: Both are cheap, quick-drying, and semi-transparent, making them ideal for a thin imprimatura. These colors were used by artists such as da Vinci and Van Eyck.
7. Light Blue: Sometimes preferred by alla prima painters as a luminous base, using a blue imprimatura allows for water, skies, and atmospheric effects to be developed quickly. I have no idea who starts out with blue.
8. White: A plain white imprimatura is the most luminous imprimatura for glazing. The drawback is that it makes opaque paint appear darker by contrast. The white ground was first consistently used by Manet, and then later by artists such as Seurat and Derain.
Looking back through art history's use of imprimaturas can help you decide on the look and feel you would like to have in your own paintings, and is always the first step in copying a master's work.
Monet vs Manet
Looking at the top image of this post you will see two paintings by famous artists, Monet and Manet.
Manet was known for using white as his imprimatura, and this is exactly one of the reasons why the French Salon rejected his work. A white imprimatura can be difficult to work with when you do not understand how it can affect your color palette.
Manet did this on purpose. If this is also your purpose, run with the white, but be careful and aware that sometimes it just doesn't work out.
Monet on the other hand almost always used a colored imprimatura. While he did occasionally use white, you will usually see light blue (left), gray (middle), or yellow (right) coming through his works. His use of the imprimatura is a perfect example of how the correct imprimatura can help brightly painted, multi-colored works maintain a balanced color harmony.
