You can use any color you like. A couple years back, I was doing complementary under paintings, so I had paintings with violet under paintings, blue under paintings, and green under paintings.

There are a couple of reasons why I use raw umber and burnt umber these days.

First of all, that’s what the Flemish Masters whose technique I am using used as the under painting layer.

Second, the umbers are earth tones, so they dry quickly. Quite often, over night. In a technique that requires weeks of dry time between phases, it doesn’t seem like a couple of days would make a difference, but it does. At least for me. The faster those early phases are completed, the better I like it.

Third, the umbers don’t fade as much as the other colors and they are opaque. When you’re using the glazing techniques I use, successive layers are more and more transparent. In the painting of Keyodee Star, for example, most of the final layers were applied with a clean rag and applied very thinly. They were for tinting purposes only. They covered up nothing; they only changed color or value.

So you need under layers that are more opaque. The dead layer (the last layer before the color glazes) is fairly opaque, but not as opaque as the umber layer. Each layer builds on the previous layer. The umber layer is the first layer of the actual painting, so it needs to provide the foundation.

Besides all of that technical stuff, I love the love the look of raw umber and burnt umber. I could do an entire painting as an umber value study in either one of those colors.

If you are interested in more information on the Flemish technique, check out the ArtPapa web site. That’s where I got my instruction. Just take a look at the gallery and the free tutorials. You will be impressed if you like the classical style at all.

Thanks for the question!

Carrie L. Lewis

Thank you. I’m glad to see you here!

Thank you so much for your very kind words on my work, too. What a great encouragement. It is a lot of hard work. As you mentioned, both writing and art are a lot less about inspiration than they are about perspiration.

But I am married to a community band member/choir director and know that musicians are also more about work than waiting for inspiration or a muse.

In fact, my observations of the musicians are that if they are inspired, it’s usually by the sounds they are able to create after the work!

Same for me with painting and writing.

I have seen not only The Man from Snowy River but Return to Snowy River. They are both great movies. Another down under movie that I enjoy is Quigley Down Under.

Thanks again for stopping by, Rita. Glad to see you here!

Every one of your artworks are distinct from the others and I especially appreciate this finely executed piece; it really demonstrates your love of horses.

I call myself an instant artist as I illustrate my husbands messages on a board using pastels. I especially enjoy doing portraits ie Jesus & Nicodemus face to face.

If you could ever hire the Aussie video / The Man From Snowy River, you’d love it. All about horses!