Grisaille Underpaintings: How and Why They Work

First of all, what is a Grisaille underpainting? It is actually very simple. Grisaille underpaintings are monochromatic underpaintings, usually done with Raw Umber and white, to create the tonal composition of your painting. The reason Raw Umber is used instead of Ivory Black is because it has less oil and dries very quickly (mixed with Gamsol, it can take less than a day before being dry to the touch).

So why would you use a grisaille instead of just directly painting? I use it to establish my lights and darks early in the painting. It is much easier to get your colors correct once you know where your lights and darks will be situated in the painting.

Once the picture is drawn in vine charcoal, I mix my 4 main tones (2 lights and 2 darks) for the painting with Raw Umber and Flake White Replacement. Both paints contain very little oil and will less likely crack with more layers of paint added later (fat over lean). The White Replacement does take a few extra days to dry, but I like to use it to create a little texture (especially when mixed with some Cold Wax).

The book that really got me into grisaille underpaintings was Solomon J. Solomon’s- The Practice of Oil Painting and Drawing. Grisaille underpaintings have been used for centuries from painters such as Titian, Rembrandt, Rubens, Van Dyke, and Velazquez just to name a few. I strongly recommend trying this technique if you want to create balanced tones in your paintings.

How to Start a Painting

When starting a painting, the biggest things that help me more than anything are making 2 studies: a noton and color study. This not only helps to make a strong foundation, but ironically also saves time since most of the problems are being solved before the painting even gets started. I do my studies each on an 8”x 10” canvace with acrylic paint on the notan, and oil on the color study.

Notans

Notans are incredible tools to help figure out the light and dark designs of a painting. They help figure out the design and composition of your picture on a smaller image before you get stuck on your actual painting. Most of the time, if a painting isn't coming together, the light and dark design isn't very interesting. If you can make a notan design you are happy with, you will almost certainly be happy with your paintings. They always say that values do all the work, and color gets all the credit.

To make a notan, I always use acrylic on an 8”x 10” canvas. The values of your picture that are lighter will be pure white, and the values that are darker will be pure black. If you are painting from life, the easiest way to tell what is in the light and what is in the dark is to close your left eye and squint hard with your right.

Remember, notans work great for realistic and abstract painting. In fact, some abstract artists use the idea of notans as their finished paintings (look at Franz Kline and Robert Motherwell).

Color Study

Once the notan is figured out, I use a separate 8”x 10” canvas to figure out the color design. Whether my colors are based on reality or made up, this is a great way to figure out the color design of the painting. The main thing I try to remember at this stage is that the values of the colors need to match the values of the notan design.

Bottom line, this HELPS the painting be more free and spontaneous

For anyone worried about losing the spontaneity of their painting by doing these studies, I strongly urge you to try it and see for yourself. One thing these studies have done in my own work is prevent me from overworking my painting as most of the problem solving is done way before the actual painting has even started.