This post is about the influence of a colored ground on a finished work. A rich blue carries its own associations — calm, twilight, stillness. Red suggests fire and intensity. Purple opens onto mystery. Whatever the color, when it’s allowed to breathe through the marks made on top of it, the results can be striking. I’ve paired old master drawings and paintings with 20th and 21st century artists who use this same approach, because the impulse is timeless — only the materials and the mood change. Art history is a deep well. Cast your net wide and let yourself be surprised by what you find. Now go paint a colored ground, or pull out a sheet of colored paper, and see what happens.
