From the course: Painting Foundations: Acrylic
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Using a colored ground
From the course: Painting Foundations: Acrylic
Using a colored ground
- So for this lesson we're gonna look at the amazing power of using a tonal ground. This is short for a tonal background and is my number one painting principle. It can be so effective in your work. Different artists throughout the ages have used tonal grounds, from Turner to Jack Vettriano, and what they do is they enable you to paint quicker and give you a really professional finish to your works. Turner used pre-colored sheets of watercolor paper with different colors of browns, blues, and grays. When faced with a scene, he would look through his pre-painted watercolor sheets and select the most appropriate color. So for example, a warm brown for an autumnal tree scene. You can apply a tonal ground opaquely or as a transparent stain. For our initial purpose, an opaque finish is best as it stops the acrylic painting looking too watery. So what colors can be used for a tonal ground? Well, they can really vary. They can be very muted colors. They can be bright, vivid colors. It all…
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