Studio process: why I start every canvas in orange

An underpainting nobody ever sees is doing most of the work. Here's the same painting at four stages.

Burnt orange first, thin, wiped back with a rag. Everything cool I put on top of it starts to hum, and the small gaps where the orange peeks through hold the whole picture together.

If you're painting along this month: don't skip the wipe-back. The rag is the tool, not the brush.