February in Alabama is wet, cold, and grey. A perfect recipe for malaise. Will I hibernate? Will I huddle under the covers and whine? Will I crawl into bed with a pan of lasagna and try to get as fat as possible? Not this kid… not anymore at least. Let’s get back to work. And this time I think I’ll try things a little differently.

Step 1- Underpainting rub-out

Gamblin’s Solvent Free gel mixed with transparent earth orange (about 50/50).

The underpainting acts as a value study- letting me study the dark and light areas of the painting and decide if the composition is interesting enough to stand on its own without the color.

The paint/gel mixture is applied to the entire canvas (or in this case primed panel) with a large brush, then, using a t-shirt rag I rub out the lighter parts of the painting, using varying pressure to get the gradations of value.

Stay tuned for more… unless I go back into hibernation mode. Then you can find me on the couch with a pot of chili.