Underpainting. Just Too Technical

I hated this "Underpainting" technique so much that my oil painting teacher could feel it and he told me "Don't get frustrated".



An initial layer of Burnt Sienna was painted dark to the whole canvas, after a thin layer of linseed oil, to serve as a base. We were then told to remove the paint where necessary by using a brush or a rag, in order to show the light and tone. First time hearing about it, I was so not able to grasp the technique and it was annoyingly difficult. I was thinking "Why should I have to paint it on since it eventually has to be removed?".

That was a week ago. I then tried to google a bit on Underpainting; eventually, it could be quite functional, meaningful and interesting.



Today, the underpainting had been thoroughly dry. We were applying some colours with Titanium White, Ultramarine Blue and Burnt Sienna over it! "Yeah! That's more like it!". Definitely very glad that things started to work out quite okay. I am a very slow painter. This was just very preliminary and looked a bit funny. I may still need another week or two to get it done.



Indeed a mind-relaxing time...