What is grisaille?
Grisaille (pronounced griz-eye) is a painting term
that means "gray tones". This monochrome painting executed in gray tone
values ranging from dark to light, transparent to opaque, flat to reflective,
and sometimes from warm to cool.
There are many benefits of grisaille.
1. Grisaille (gray tone value) underpainting
divides and conquers the painting process, so it's great for painters of all
skill levels.
2. In essence, an artist must capture the rhythm of
nature and allow light to dance playfully through an art work. The
foundation for this is achieved in the graytone process.
3. The
artist builds a foundation in gray tones. This monocrhome underpainting
ranges in value from black to white and includes various gray values that will facilitate various kinds of effects when light tries to pass through or bounce
off the layers of paint.
4. The truly effective grisaille
underpainting builds a network of paint layers that actually channel natural
sunlight from the surface (ground layer), all the way up through the final layer
of colors. So, when the sunshine pours down on this painting, the structure or
network of the grisaille underpainting makes it possible for the light to be
reflected back to greet your eyes with rich color infused with shimmering
light! In other words, luminosity.
This concept was developed many centuries ago when pigments were
very scarce. The Old Masters
had only a handful of pigments to accomplish their beautiful results so they had to push each individual pigment to its fullest capacity
to be able to achieve the luminosity in their art work that made them famous.
In essence, they cherished the "inner
light" that played and danced through their network of colors on canvas, and
made that "inner light" an integral part of their paintings.
Not every art work requires brilliant
luminosity to achieve the desired results. However, even a soft misty
atmosphere should be enhanced by colors infused with natural sunlight to capture the
essence of life.
5. The grisaille underpainting provides a
foundation for transparent color overlays. Transparent colors have no body by
themselves. That is, you can't create textural quality using a transparent
paint alone. Thereby, the illusion of texture is created in the grisaille
underpainting, over which color is glazed using transparent oil paint.
6. The finished grisaille
underpainting can stand alone as a finished art work. That would be called
a classic grisaille.
7. Now let's talk about Coulter
Grisaille™.
Linda Coulter's multi-layered art works are designed with passageways
through which light can freely pass, producing the special effects and illusions
that the artist wants to achieve.
In essence, she allows natural sunlight to
participate in the design from start to finish and uses only a handful of
precious pigments to produce color radiance in her art works.
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