Hard pastel underpainting

Underpainting with mineral spirits

Given my displeasure with the watercolor underpainting, I decided to try hard pastel and mineral spirits. I used colors and values as close to what I was seeing as possible–something that is difficult with the limits of hard pastel. Given the complexity of the subject matter, I did not want to experiment with warm under cool or other possible schemes.  After applying the first layer of mineral spirits, I decided to darken parts of the clouds, which you see in this photo.  While this is not a particularly lovely underpainting, it was much easier to work with.