Painting St Odelia| Part 1: Underpainting
I recently had the blessing to paint St Odelia of Alsace and always love the opportunity to painting Western Orthodox Saints who are not well known. I also took the opportunity to paint the icon using the underpainting technique I learned from my teacher George Kordis, so I thought I would share the process with you, so her in Part 1 I will show you the underpainting step-by-step. These tutorials can be used in conjunction with the real time bonus videos of the painting process that are available on Patreon. I will link the corresponding videos in the blog.
Painting the Sketch
The panel has been prepared with diluted egg emulsion and I go over the sketch with a mixture of yellow ochre and black.
Underpainting 1
The colour for the underpainting is a mixture of yellow ochre, black and a touch of mars red to give it a little warmth and we cover the entire painting surface with a couple of smi-transparent layers.
Underpainting 2
Taking the same colour we go over the figure and lime tree, and start building up the darker areas.
The bonus video of this process is available here.
Underpainting 3
Now we add a little more black to the base colour and further build up the darker areas.
Underpainting 4
We add a little more black and continue the process only in the darkest areas.
Background and Border
The light background is a mixture of white, yellow ochre and just a touch of black.
The border is yellow ochre, mars red and black.
The outline is the border colour plus more mars red and black
