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Grounds for quality
June 16, 2000
Dear Artist,
"What sort of ground should I paint on?" While there are
a few common and safe answers, there's a wide variety of opinion
on the subject. I'll confine my remarks here to the preparations
for oil or acrylic.
At the present time I'm in the toned-ground school. This means white
gesso tinged with another color. Perhaps the best is a warm gray
made by adding colors of choice to the white base. There seems to
be so far no problem with the exterior latex acrylic primers that
are available in paint stores. The main reason for toned grounds
is that the artist doesn't need to fight the tyranny of white. A
convenient near-middle or light tone is already provided and cursory
brushwork remains fresh against it. Also, darker darks and lighter
lights can be worked on either side of it. Furthermore, ground tones
can be refined in anticipation of subject matter and the planned
use of glazes. For example a warm ground later glazed with pthalo
blue will neutralize to an even more sophisticated tone. Further,
brightly toned grounds, or bright gradated grounds, can add energy
to work when left as "holidays." With brightly toned grounds
such as red oxide it's a good idea to isolate them with a coat of
medium so they don't penetrate and fox later layers, particularly
light ones. Transparent glazes in single or varied colors over brilliant
white grounds are another way to go. Some artists enjoy working
up a grisaille over a white ground, textured or plain. This is where
elements are painted in shades of gray or brownish, for instance,
then colored by glazing. This method leads to compositionally sound
paintings by avoiding the early entrance of demon color.
The main idea, after sound mechanical and chemical practices are
in place, is to experiment until the surface and tone are just right
for you at the time. If the ground is happy, the painting is half
painted.
Best regards,
Robert
PS: "All the fun's in how you say a thing." (Robert Frost)
Esoterica: chic anglais (not what you
think) This is an expression coined by the French in the 18th century
which describes the brilliant color effects of painters like Sir
Thomas Lawrence and R. Bonnington who were painting transparently
over bright white grounds.
The following are selected correspondence to the above and other
letters. Thank you for writing rgenn@saraphina.com
› Anything goes
I use black, browns, prussian blue and brown, indigo blue, reds,
orange, sometimes greens, red-orange, red with black or blue on
top of it, yellows, purples, sometimes all on different parts of
the canvas... well, you get the idea. Whatever is near at hand or
whatever color I feel like using at the time works. There's only
one rule... never white.
Charles Kaufman, Germany
› Likes intensity
I use a toned base for my painting also but I
like to use colours that will give me intensity
before I've even started. I like to use reds,
browns, ochres, greys full strength. I will also
take a canvas that is already painted, turn it
upside down and paint right over top. I love what
happens when the colours peek through in a
serendipitous manner.
Eileen Williamson
› Thin support
I'm worried about the canvas we buy these
days. It's pretty thin. The light passes
right through it when it's against a window.
I can't afford linen. That's why I lay
down another ground.
Reg Ash, London, UK
(RG note) In the drive
to supply stretched canvas that is reasonably
priced manufacturers have gone to cheaper and
cheaper quality. Most of this is cotton
duck—some of it almost the quality of sign
cotton, which is really not too satisfactory for
fine art. I wouldn't buy anything less than
10 ounces per square yard—(284 grams per
square meter.) Even then, while well enough
factory primed, you will have to prime it again
to achieve opacity.
› How to prime
What's the best way to put on the ground?
Helen
(RG note) I do a lot of
canvasses at a time with a household paint
roller. The problem with rollers is that they
give little or no texture. Some artists prefer to
put it on fairly stiffly with a fan blender or
other big brush in order to introduce a spackly
texture or brush stroke effect.
The paint roller is
fastest and can also be fun because, with a
little practice, you can introduce gradations to
the ground. I like my grounds to be varied so I
can choose them as I go through the pile. The
whole ground subject, as I mentioned in my
letter, is very important—so that the artist
gets the right feel. Many artists these days are
rediscovering the business of painting on wooden
panels. Various hardwood plywoods are excellent
for small supports. These can be primed as you
would a canvas. For extra excitement I recommend
a clear shellac, then a varnish—in order to
let the wood texture and color participate in the
painting. Oil sits up on this surface
beautifully. Clear or tinted acrylic medium is
also a good ground.
› Textured ground
I work on prestwood (Masonite) panels and I use this method to get
the surface I like best at the present time. First I prime with
a latex sealer. When this is dry I put on a fairly thick coat of
half-and-half gesso and modeling paste. I roll it out evenly with
a small hard brayer. Working in fairly small areas while it is tacky
I press and blot it with a trimmed natural sponge. This picks up
the surface and provides a sufficiently rough surface which takes
my brushstrokes well. I use white, and, working in watery acrylic
glazes, I lay in the basic forms early.
Stan James
› Guilty pleasure
Julia Cameron has some great thoughts on
creativity in her book The Right to
Write. Guilty pleasure, she says, is what
writing is all about.
Left to its own devices,
writing is like weather. It has a drama, a form,
a force to it that shapes the day. Just as a good
rain clears the air, a good writing day clears
the psyche.
If we eliminate the word
"writer", if we just go back to writing
as an act of listening and naming what we hear,
some of the rules disappear. There is an organic
shape, a form-coming-into-form that is inherent
in the thing we are observing, listening to, and
trying to put on the page. It has rules of its
own that it will reveal to us if we listen with
attention. Shape does not need to be imposed.
Shape is part of what we are listening to. When
we just let ourselves write, we get it
"right".
In a section about
people not "having the time" to write,
Cameron says, "We all have time to write. We
have time to write the minute we are willing to
write badly, to chase a dead end, to scribble a
few words, to write for the hell of it instead of
for the perfect and polished result."
Also: "I believe
that what we want to write wants to be written. I
believe that as I have an impulse to create, the
something I want to create has an impulse to want
to be born. My job, then, is to show up on the
page and let that something move through me, in a
sense, what wants to be written is none of my
business."
"Writing just for
the hell of it is heaven."
Sue Legault, Vancouver
(RG note) Thanks for the
contrast. The word "paint" can be
substituted for "write."
› Russian mind
We have invited Russian art public to subscribe Your Twice-Weeker,
we think it is useful for understanding of life, not art only. But
what will be result you will write us, perhaps. To translate the
texts and enforce the person, who is not ready--it is strange for
Russian soul. The Russian soul likes the freedom, all our history
is full of examples of different rebellions. You know it. You have
seen that Repin's picture with the appeal of angry boatman. There
is interesting saying about Russia (of famous Russian writer): "It
is not possible to understand the Russia with mind, it is not possible
to measure it with small measuring tool."
Olga Knyaz, Author's
Russian Tapestries, Moscow, Russia
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If you would like to see selected correspondence
relating to the previous letter
"Soviet lessons," please click here: http://painterskeys.com/clickbacks/soviet.htm
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