8

Painting Fundamentals II: ‘Muck Up’

I like to sully the paper, to get into it and make a bit of a mess and get going.

—Jim Dines

8.1 Introduction

The ‘Muck Up’ Approach to Making Art

Having tuned in to your subject and decided what it is you wish to convey in your painting, the next stage is to set up your ground color and then create a muck up under-painting on which you will add selective detail. What I share here is just one of many approaches to making art. There is no best approach, only different approaches. Another approach is to initially map out your composition carefully and precisely using guidelines and light pencil work and then to fill in tonal blocks and add color and detail. My approach is to start rough and messy and then ...

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