Grisaille (gray-scale) Acrylic painting with Maureen Coles

The focus of a grisaille (or gray-scale) painting is value contrasts. When I work on these I find them far more challenging than a painting with full colour; because you can't fall back into " let's brighten that up with a splash of yellow". 

I have poor vision, so I find these wonderful to paint because I navigate my world in value contrasts. I learned this technique some years ago from a very talented artist and instructor, Alan Whylie. He painted his underpaintings in a grisaille then glazed over with oil colours. After his workshop, I fell in love with the idea of just doing a grisaille and not staining with colour or very little. They are reminiscent of black and white photography, which is once again popular.

Shown here is the image we’ll be painting together. Always remember this is a workshop, not “I’m painting a masterpiece”. You’ll enjoy…