Morning Fog with Inktense Underpainting: Postcard No 117

Life by the River

Even though it’s spring there are still mornings when there’s a little bit of low lying cloud. This is a view of the morning fog sitting on the hills across the bay at Port Huon.

I painted this mini on Arctec pastel paper which is a cheap non sanded paper. My newest students often turn up with something similar so I wanted to do a couple of examples using this paper to show them what’s possible. I mounted the paper on foamcore to stabilise it as I planned to wet the paper. It worked a treat.

I did an underpainting using Inktense pencils and then washed it down with a wet brush . It brings a delicateness to the scene which I think works very well with the misty fog.

I teach a pastel class on Friday mornings and this week we’ll be experimenting with underpainitngs so I’ve been doing a few different examples to take to class to get things going.

Here is the underpainting after the Inktense was washed down with a wet brush.

I often use acrylic inks for underpaintings and these ink pencils are a great alternative. Once washed down you can get very vibrant results, they’re nice and portable and allow for some detail if you want that option.

We’ll be using all sorts of techniques in class so you’ll probably see a few more postcards with underpaintings coming up!

Lindy Whitton Studio