Friends, if you have not forgotten, we together with you draw an oil painting on canvas, we analyze the progress of the multilayer painting technique. In the previous article, we sketched a still life with wine and carried out three stages of the painting in one session.

I told and showed in the how to put a image on the canvas and fix it, make an imprimatura, mark light and dark places with oil paints. This brown-yellow grisaille.. And now, let's continue! Ahead of us there will be many interesting things!

 By the way, do you know what the term “glaze” means? This word is derived from the German "lasierung" and means glazing. A little culinary term, right? But in fact, glazing in painting helps to enhance the color of the picture, to achieve harmony and beauty by applying thin layers. Of course, like a kind of sweet icing, just for painting!

The fourth stage of work on still life - the first color layer
After two weeks of drying the imprimatura with a light shadow, we proceed to the first color underpainting

For work, we need:
Oil paints:
-sap green
-cobalt blue or ultramarine
- burnt umber or brown mars
-cadmium red light
-cadmium yellow
-golden ocher
-white titanium
- Brushes: flat from soft synthetics, almost the same as in the first stages
-Linseed oil
- Palette (I use disposable plastic plates)

Before work, slightly moisten the canvas with oil, so that the brush glides better on the canvas. Allow a little time to soak in the oil, remove the excess with a paper towel.

This light glaze layer should shine through the already laid brown background and light shade. The purpose of multilayer painting is to obtain optical mixing of colors by applying one transparent or translucent shade layer to another. In places, of course, you still have to paint over the underlying layer with a dense layer .... Confused? As work progresses on the picture, it will be better understood, let's not rush the event!

For the background in the canvas I mixed green with ocher and added a little cobalt. I already said that I did not set a goal of 100% copying, but I would not have succeeded because of the reasons that I indicated in the first part. As a result, we can say that my still life is a free copy!

Therefore, I improvise, add my own shades, based on the palette with which I work. And later we will finish the matter with new glaze, thus, compacting the color in the picture and further detailing.

To write the grapes, I used a gray tint with a purple tint. You can get it easily by mixing a drop of burnt umber with white! Yes, a grayish color in warm colors can be obtained in this way. In the photo below on my palette in the lower left corner is exactly the mix of paint that is needed.

For a bottle of wine I used sap green. For grape leaves, also grassy green with cadmium yellow. In some places, added brown, where the leaves have already changed color to autumn.

While the wine in the glass is marked with cadmium red, we will do the rest later

Let's make transparent glaze on the table top with green grass and cadmium yellow

A vase or sugar bowl is a special subject in a still life, therefore, Chinese painting will be written separately, slowly.

Looking at the paintings of the old masters, you can find minor flaws ... As a rule, they do not catch the eye, only with a meticulous examination of the picture, they can accidentally be discovered! But the paintings from this do not lose their charm!

Do not try to prescribe everything, do not forget, the lower layers should be visible. The translucent application of paint to the dried lower layer gives new shades that are simply impossible to obtain by mechanical mixing.

By the expression “mechanical mixing” I mean the usual mixing of paints with each other on the palette to get a new shade. As a rule, the fourth stage is written quickly, fluently, one might even say slightly sloppy... That's it, finish this work, wash the brushes, and leave it like this until the next session! Let the paints dry for 1.5-2 weeks.
In the photo - first 3 steps.

After two weeks of drying, we proceed to the next stage - color compaction.
Used paints in this session:
- phthalo blue
- madder lake red
- cadmium red
-sap green
- white titanium
- yellow lemon
- medium
- The same brushes, flat synthetics and round as needed. - Palette, napkins

Before starting the session, moisten the canvas with a medium. In the first sessions, we used linseed oil, and now write with the help of a medium. Why? Because we start writing glaze with thin translucent strokes. And here is such a nuance: cohesion of the layers will be better if varnish is present in the medium. For example, I use a medium, in the composition of which there is a varnish, this is immediately felt by the smell

To darken the background, I took a phthalo blue. Make the dark places in the picture even darker with the same phthalo blue. For example, at the bottom of the canvas, somewhere easier, just a hint. Let's make the color denser on the bottle, glass and grapes, I remind you that now we are working with dark places. Look, the color of the bottle has changed, it has become darker. Dark places under grapes and to the left of the bottle too

Note: to make the background darker, shadows and penumbra glazing can be long enough if necessary. A long process, I know, but it is insanely interesting!

By the way, if you paid attention to the plot, you noticed that I slightly “thought out” the bottom of the table (chest of drawers) - I added a box with a decorative handle! In the first part I wrote that I made small changes in the drawing .... as they say, find 8 differences! But my free copy of this did not become less interesting!

- Next, let's work with a vase (sugar bowl), draw a picture on it with the help of a phthalo blue. You can immediately make light places brighter with white. Carefully, do not touch the picture itself!

And then go to the grapes. To do this, mix phthalo blue with red and white. Light spots of grapes can be prescribed with pure cadmium red.

Writing grapes is especially pleasant, giving density and transparency to the berries! With a soft brush, lightly smear the borders between the colors ... Now I think we should leave it until the next session. Look a little lower in what condition the grapes are left until the next time

I changed the shape of the glass a little, but the principle of work remains the same: a light pattern on the glass and ruby wine. For a sparkling shade of wine I use madder lake red and a little lemon yellow.
Since there is a freshly written grape leaf behind a glass of wine, the detail of the picture on the glass will have to be postponed until the next session. For a simple reason - the details must be written on a completely dry layer.

- The wine label is also a special attribute in this case, we will draw it later. Details in a multi-layered painting technique require a calm and assiduous “state of mind”. It’s best to set aside more time for them. In the meantime, we’ll only make the label background. We mix white, madder lake red and blue, a light purple hue is obtained.

- Paint the leaves with green and cadmium yellow, the same color became more pronounced on the leaves. If cadmium yellow is applied to green grassy, then the shade of green will become warmer.

- To glaze the marble surface of the table, mix grassy green and yellow lemon. I will say that the process of working with grape leaves is the same as with the countertop. They look similar in tone, did you notice?

Since earlier I did not have to see the original picture with my own eyes to consider it better, I can only guess about some of the nuances. Here, for example, gray smoky spots are visible in the background.

And the whole picture is, as it were, enveloped in a fleur of gray shades. Earlier, I said that my free copy will have slight similarity. I will leave the cold gamut of the background in warmer, brown tones. In addition, the bottom drawer with a decorative handle looks harmonious against such a background. In a word, I decided not to add gray haze. At the bottom of the photo on the left is the original picture, on the right is my free copy at this stage.

My task is to bring the still life I have written to the original of the picture with the help of glazing. Friends, I remind you once again that I by no means affirm that my approach to glazing painting is classically correct. This is like a new dish for you, having tried it, you try to guess what it is prepared from, what notes of taste are present there, which ingredients emphasize the overall taste of the dish.

Let me remind you that in ancient times, painters conducted many tests in order to learn all the charm of glazing technique! You can’t do without experiments! My approach is more experimental!
Here's what happened between the color underpainting and the first glazing layer. That's it, the session is over. We send a still life to dry and again for two weeks.

Unfortunately, the photo camera does not transmit all the tint in the original, especially places with shading spots. The continuation of my story read in the third part

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