Undertones

Undertones. Hmmm, sounds a little bit sinister, doesn't it?  But toning a canvas before starting to apply paint is anything but! In fact, for most painters, it's an essential first step in the painting process. (For the uninitiated, "toning" a canvas refers to putting a thin layer of color down on the raw white canvas, as shown in the top photo). 

There are many different reasons that painters tone their canvases. Here are a few:

Photo from Bill Guffey

(1) Some painters use a medium value, neutral, gray tone, so that when they start to apply color, they can readily compare
their colors to the undertone. This makes it easier to judge the value of the colors as they are applied.  When painting outdoors, the grey tone also eliminates the blinding glare that would come from a white canvas.

(2) Some painters use a reddish undertone for landscape painting, especially when the landscape contains a lot of greens. The idea is that the green will "pop" agains its complement, the red. A couple of colors often used for a reddish undertone are Venetian Red and Burnt Sienna.

Painting (c) Maggie Siner

(3) Some painters like to leave parts of the undertoned canvas showing through in the final painting. Or as one of my mentors, Maggie Siner, said (rather tongue in cheek), with the right neutral undertone, you are halfway home--you only have to paint the parts of the subject that are not that color!

Photo, Mitch Albala

(4) Some painters use the still-wet tone to create an preliminary picture of their subject. This process allows them to establish the composition, as well as the basic value plan of the painting, before they start to apply color. The result is actually more of an "underpainting" than merely a toned canvas. Mitch Albala has a good write up about this approach in his book Landscape Painting: Essential Concepts and Techniques.

A final note. Some painters tone their canvases in advance, so that they are dry before the painting process begins. Others like to tone the canvas immediately before starting the painting. Doing so allows the painter to select the undertone color based on the subject at hand, and also to use the wetness of the tone to unify their colors. It all goes to show, there are as many different approaches to toning a canvas as there are painters!

Image (c) Lesley Powell

As for me, I usually tone a neutral gray. But see the bottom shot for an example of a canvas I toned a warmer, reddish color. Don't want to get stuck in a rut...

Image (c) Lesley Powell