Underpainting or grisaille

I have used Winsor and Newton Artisan water mixable oil colours of Burnt Umber and Coeruleum well, diluted with water, resulting in a transparent warm brown. Hopefully this will balance the high oil absorption of the paint which makes them unsuitable for under layers. Budget constraints means that I can not buy more paint. The canvas was covered in a layer of this paint and it was wiped from the areas that will be light. Then I painted the lights more opaquely using Titanium White, Burnt Umber, Coeruleum and a tiny bit of Indian Red. Elliott recommends using flake white but this colour is not in the Artisan range. The next step when the paint is dry is to paint transparent glazes for the shadows and dark areas.

Venetian Technique

'Traditional Oil Painting' by Virgil Elliott was given to me for Christmas by my son. This book explores, in depth, the various historical oil painting techniques which were not taught in my Art School days. So with knowledge gleaned from this book I am attempting to paint the 'Dryad' in what is known as the "Venetian Technique". This technique is supposed to have been developed by Titian and Giorgione.

So I have now drawn the image on the canvas using charcoal. The canvas is 5 foot by 2 foot which made drawing was hard work. Elliott advises going over the drawing with ink or very thin oil or alkyd paint though I think I will use acrylic paint as I already have some.

Family

Dryad in photoshop

Dryad

I enjoy mythology stories and legends. Along Pinkhill lane are many mighty oaks, so once again, there are gods in Eynsham in the form of a Dryad, a nymph of the oak tree. SueC is modeling along with her daughter who insisted on joining the fun.

Oak

When does an oak tree stop looking like one?