Learning objectives
■ Why a sunset needs a light-toned ground
■ How to bring your painting to life through reflected light
■ Build confidence and skills
The success of a painting relies on the artist knowing what they want to achieve. If you know what you want the picture to look like, you can choose a method that will suit your intention. For the past two projects (April and May issues) I used the ebauche method, which starts with a dark mass, from which you evolve your picture. You work from dark to light. It is a good all-round method that can be made to work perfectly well for most paintings, but if you want to achieve luminosity and you want your picture to glow, it might be better to consider a different approach.
I usually recommend working on MDF or canvas, which need to be primed. Oil paint can be acidic and if put straight ontowhich to paint. Last month we used gesso coloured with raw sienna, which gave us a value five ground to work on. It is a brown that is halfway between black (value 1) and white (value 10).
