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           To many artists and art lovers the term alla prima brings visions of paintings that are made fast and furious, capturing a fleeting vision, with wet-in-wet painting. The painting is made using the most direct method because the artist may be painting a changing image of a landscape or want to get an idea down quickly before the initial inspiration vanishes. This kind of painting can be fun and liberating and force the artist to break out of their usual procedure and discover some new ideas or methods. Spontaneity is valued above accuracy.

       However, that's not the whole alla prima story. The method of painting wet into wet in order to achieve smooth transitions when modeling form is something that comes out of the French academies, re-started by David and his followers. They would go to great pains to map out their value progressions in order to achieve a homogenous skin of paint that would hide the planning involved in order to look effortless. One apocryphal story has Ingres assigning his students to make a value chart of twenty values. When they complained, he came in the next day with a chart of fifty values! Looking back even further we can see it practiced in the frescoes of Michelangelo where the artist had to finish as he went because fresco painting, as seen in Leonardo's disasters, does not allow areas to be re-worked.

        I guess it takes a certain temperament to be an alla prima painter. On one level you have to accept the methods limitations; the paint can only be pushed around so much before it turns to mud or the paint molecules begin to flatten and the painting looks labored. A series of trial and errors will begin to give the artist an idea of what the paint will and won't do. The end result will always be a bit of a surprise because you don't always know where you're going until you get there. On the other hand, seeing a small piece of form fully developed in a small section of a newly begun painting, is kind of exhilarating. You're always wondering if you'll be able to sustain the momentum, or if you've just painted the best part of the painting and you may as well quit while you're ahead.

           In my own approach I use some fairly common procedures to mitigate some of the "blind painting" qualities of the alla prima method. It's not that I don't value spontaneity, but spontaneity is not something that you can build on and carry over to the next painting. I value the craft aspect of my work and I found myself always wanting to "do it better" the next time. I start with a pencil drawing, which I leave sort of schematic looking, like a Charles Bargue block-in. I want to leave the final edges to be worked out at the moment of painting, worked out with the brush. Once my underpainting is established, usually a wipe-out with a colored ebauche (thinned down paint), I then proceed to make a small painting study, where I try to nail down the values, tonality, and color scheme without having to focus on details. It's at this point where I can see if the "intangibles" the abstract framework that holds the painting together is working or not. I will also begin to get more of an image of what the paintings "big idea" is going to be. Every painting has one; we are not cameras after all. You would think that the study would come before everything else but that would be a different kind of study. The purpose of this study is to keep me on track as I'm windowshading my way across the canvas, because as one of my instructor's used to say "it's so easy for that little man who's walking without a map, to get lost!"

       I also mix up an entire string of colors and value progressions for the area that I will be painting. If my string is good I can see the painted forms in my mind by looking at my palette. When Whistler's students would ask him to look at their paintings he would ask to see their palettes. It also helps to keep the tones that are placed on the canvas clean and unadulterated. This is important because with the wet-in-wet method you are going to have to go in and noodle the paint around a bit in order to achieve some blending. I try to do as little blending as I can. I never put my brush to canvas without paint on it and I don't blend with fan brushes etc:. Having clean, clear tones to begin with helps to avoid the dreaded mud.

     I'm pretty sure that I would be a much "tighter" painter if I used other, more layered approaches, but I think it's important for artists to have a firm grasp on what their true nature is. I've always painted this way and to a large extant it partly defines who I am as an artist. I love Rembrandt but I can't imagine myself painting layer after layer, years in the making, to achieve a glorious final result. Maybe some day down the road, that will change. Sometimes I feel like I'm falling down a well grabbing still lifes as I go, and I know I should probably slow down, but I can't, I'm having way too much fun. Alla prima pretty much describes my lifes philosphy, even these little articles are written streaming consciousness style without drafts or outlines. I'd like to write more on this but I've got a painting in the studio that I want to get back to before the edges dry. Otherwise there will be a horrible "seam" which is a topic for another post.