Can an underpainting improve your artwork?
I think so! It certainly has been a wonderful addition to my processes and how I now begin almost every painting. This is an example. My painting titled "Snip, Snip" ( completed in 2022)was painted to honor my Mother and her sisters who were amazing seamstresses. Those Italian girls were all taught to sew at a professional level and made careers with this ability. Although I tried, I am a poor substitute to their expertise. But....I did inherit a love of art, color and a lot of scissors! Let me explain how I created this painting. 1. First I arranged scissors in a complicated overlapping pattern. I photographed the color and the B/W versions as a guide. The B/W then became my value study which showed me a minimum of 5 values I wanted in my painting. From the lightest to the darkest, I established a mid tone and one value inbetween. 2. Sketching this on watercolor paper did not require more than a ruler. I did enlarge the shapes from the 8.5" x 11" copy paper