Chad Wooters presents:
Regardless of whether I work for three hours or three months on a painting, every painting is made in four phases: surface preparation, under-painting, modeling, and the finishing touches. Although there are four phases, you might choose to apply all the phases in a single working session (alla primera) or expand any given phase into multiple sessions.
Tonal realism is one of many approaches for representation, but is arguably the most objective. The term refers primarily to the systematic painting method advocated by the Australian artist Max Meldrum, but accurately describes the work of such diverse painters as Velasquez, Ribera, Chardin, Sir Henry Raeburn, and even Rembrandt. In theory, tonal realism emphasizes the importance of using value to define form. In practice, direct application of paint with a minimum of preparatory drawings is preferred, although individual artists vary on the degree of finish they feel is necessary. Nevertheless, tonal realist methods are biased towards a representational strategy of shading that minimizes descriptive detail. In the case of Meldrum, historian Garry Kinnane notes that,
"… Meldrum believed in recording unmanipulated Nature as it appeared to the 'innocent' eye in the moment of its registering the image; … by understanding the tonal gradations that occur when light strikes objects." |
This "painterly" approach is unlike the popular and brightly colored "impressionist" painting style that satisfies modern sensibilities. Tonal realist brushwork remains a means to an end and dramatic lighting effects are favored over dependence on high saturation hues. That is not to say that tonal realists confine themselves to a limited palette, rather, the use of bright color is employed selectively and to maximum effect when contrasted with the more subdued picture elements. Beyond the reliance on tonal value to represent the visible world, artists who profess to be tonal realists, such as myself, vary greatly in the types of images they produce. Tonal realism is silent with regards to content, narrative, or composition. The "realism" of tonal realism refers to optical qualities and does not imply any attempt to describe social realities or principles.
The four phases described below are my interpretation of the tonal realist approach.
Surface preparation includes everything you do to a support prior to addressing your subject matter. This includes the selection of the support and ground. Surface preparation decisions are made mostly on personal preference. Table 1 shows the advantages and disadvantages of working on a hard panel surface, like Masonite, versus a cloth surface, like stretched canvas or linen. Table 2 shows the advantages of working over an acrylic versus an oil-based ground.
| Smooth surface shows every brush stroke. | Smooth surface shows every brush stroke. | Cloth texture is useful for scrumbling. | Reacts to atmospheric moisture. |
| Easy to scrape down areas for correction. | Wet paint doesn't stay put when additional layers are applied. | Lightweight. | Must be kept tight - flexibility can cause cracking of paint film. |
| Dimensionally stable - less likely to crack. | Large pieces can be very heavy. | Paint stays put when working wet-into-wet. | Painter must be vigilant about oil content of each layer. |
| Painter can be cavalier about mediums. | Warping is difficult to correct when it occurs. |
| Dries quickly, can paint over in 24 hours. | Stains easily. | Ease of corrections. | Slow to dry - up to two weeks. |
| Absorption of oil can contribute to paintings' strength. | Absorption of oil from top layers can cause chalkiness. | Highly reflective surface adds to luminosity. |
Regardless of whether you choose an acrylic ground or an oil-based ground, you still have to decide if you want to tone the ground by putting a uniform color over the entire canvas surface. There are two advantages to toning your ground. First, if you paint economically, the toned ground tends to unify the painting in sparsely coated areas. Secondly, if you are painting alla primera, you don't have to worry about the white of the canvas showing through. This can be very disrupting to the viewer and in my opinion it makes the work look amateurish. Highly reflective surface adds to luminosity. Highly reflective surface adds to luminosity.
However, luminosity will suffer depending on how dark the color is that's used on the ground. Rembrandt and Titian had a unique solution to the problem of lost luminosity. They applied a thick white impasto over selected areas and once that had dried they glazed over that area. They were, in a sense reapplying a white ground. This also solves a second problem that is all too common and that is the tendency for colors to loose their warmth through the addition of white.
During the under-painting phase the primary goals are accuracy of form and tone. Here I generally rely on the economy, durability, and effectiveness of the earth tones for matching the colors of the natural world. Earth colors are lean, quick drying, and have excellent coverage. Their excellent coverage makes it easy to correct "drawing" errors. Second, an initial block-in of earth tones starts the painting off with a warm color temperature. A warm color temperature is very difficult to add later, whereas cool color temperatures get introduced every time you make a tint with white. Finally, earth tones are very lean. This leanness makes them stiff, so they stay put when you work wet-into-wet and, if you are working in layers, they dry quickly - particularly the umbers, which contain magnesium.
| The earth tone pigments are: |
| Yellow Ochre - light yellow |
| Raw Sienna - medium yellow |
| Raw Umber - dark yellow |
| Burnt Sienna - medium orange |
| Transparent Oxide Red - dark orange (transparent) |
| Burnt Umber - dark red |
| Mars Black |
Block-in the basic forms of the painting, using large jumps in tonal value, no more than five from lightest to darkest, with only minimal concern for accuracy of hue. My motto is: "Find Failure Fast". Don't be afraid of the blank canvas. Oil painting is a process of constant correction and improvement. It is a very forgiving medium. Properly done, the block-in looks fuzzy and ill defined, as though seen through a shower door. Unless the subject is particularly complex, drawing is largely unnecessary. Meldrum would say, "There are no lines in Nature!"
As the painting progresses, the palette shifts towards brighter pigments as required by the subject matter and the needs of the painting. The primary goals are to refine the three-dimensional appearance of forms and to define textures. The forms are refined with smaller and smaller steps in tone. This is done by including more intermediate values on your palette.
During the modeling phase, the palette is expanded to include high-key pigments. Like the proverbial boy sent to do a man's job, when intense colors are required, the earth tones are no substitute for bright modern pigments. Don't be seduced by color at the expense of tone. Tone is always your primary consideration.
Michael Wilcox, through his "School of Colour" and book "Blue and Yellow Don't make Green", has done a great service to artists by promoting wide knowledge of pigment color bias. However, Michael Wilcox's system is not brand specific, whereas I value the consistency of always working with the pigments of specific brands.
Using Gamblin Oil Colors, here is the palette. The color bias of clean secondaries is also shown, because they can be used to mix low saturation primaries.
| Napthol Scarlet | orange-biased red |
| Quinacridone Red | violet-biased red |
| Dioxazine Purple | blue-biased violet |
| Cobalt Violet | red-biased violet |
| Ultramarine Blue | violet-biased blue |
| Manganese Blue Hue | green-biased blue |
| Cerulean Blue | green-biased blue |
| Viridian | blue-biased green |
| Sap Green | yellow-biased green (you can mix this color using ultramarine and Indian Yellow) |
| Pthlao Green Yellow Shade | a more intense yellow-biased green |
| Monoacetolone Orange | yellow-biased orange |
| Transparent Earth Red | red-biased orange |
| Indian Yellow | orange-biased yellow |
| Cadmium Yellow Light | green-biased yellow |
You'll notice in the above list that I have largely avoided Cadmium colors, with the exception of Cad. Yellow Light. Cadmiums start off quite bright, but they turn mute quickly. There isn't anything wrong with cadmium colors; I merely prefer others. Having defined the forms in the earth tone phase, we now have the freedom to correct color alone. Coverage ceases to be an issue and the transparency of modern colors, now that it is no longer a problem, can be exploited for the brilliant effects of luminosity. However, when coverage is needed the addition of a similarly hued earth tone will usually add enough opacity.
Hard-edges, halos, and highlights are all examples of the finishing touches that make a painting pop. Bravado brushstrokes and impastos should also be reserved for the last phase. Finishing touches can make or break a painting. For this reason, they should be reserved for later, after the previous layers have dried, so that you can wipe them off and try again until you get them absolutely perfect. When you are feeling bold and want to add those finishing touches into wet paint, the best advise is to use a lower viscosity medium with a longer dry time and apply the color with a soft sable brush.
How you approach the phases will depend largely on the amount of time you have at hand. If you are painting in a single session, then you will be altering the viscosity of your mediums to be progressively lower. You also want to make sure that the mediums of the top layers are slower drying. (Table 3 ranks various oil mediums in terms of dry time and viscosity.) In practice, the easiest way is to start with stiff mixtures and gradually add more medium, however, another way is to begin with a stiff alkyd gel for the earth tones, do the full color phase with Neo-Meglip, then add the finishing touches with poppy oil.
When you work wet-into-wet, it is also helpful to shift from bristle brushes at the start to sables towards the end. If you are not satisfied with the coverage in an expanse of painted areas, try going over the area lightly with a blending brush until the paint is spread evenly across the area. Smoothing down strokes with a painting knife is also very effective for filling in the furrows left by the bristles. When correcting tone, it is often best to scrape off the previous lays before applying the correct one.
If you are painting over a period of weeks, allow each layer to dry before beginning the next phase.
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