Laying a good foundation is bound to produce stunning results. Life imitating art. The more I paint, the more I think Oscar Wilde was right.

Here are my two umber layers. I believe I have done them in reverse order. Paying no mind to that, I remind myself I am doing what works for me.

The first umber layer, more fluid, helps to establish the values, lights and darks.

In the second, one pays more attention to detail. So I have used the paint a tiny bit thicker without adding texture at this point. The warm tone seen here will be shortlived when I begin the next layer.

In the dead layer, not seen here yet, I will be adding thinly painted shadows, and thickly painted highlights. The overall tone of the next layer will be a cool gray colour, as if bathed in moonlight. On this piece, the dead layer may take a while. Detail, not discerned in choosing this subject matter, becomes apparent to me the deeper I go.

Something is beginning to take form here in my mind. Each step prepares us for what is next to come. I feel a case of spring fever coming on, a balmy nine degrees Celsius is predicted for today. I won’t be surprised at all if we hit double digits. So everyone have a super-fantastic-delicious weekend!