Dutch Masters Series — Step 3: Color Blocking (Awakening the Underpainting)
- Durhl Davis
- Nov 10
- 3 min read
Updated: Nov 11
After the dead layer has settled into a quiet, sculptural foundation, the painting is finally ready to breathe color for the first time.This stage — color blocking — is where the Dutch Masters began to shape the emotional tone, temperature, and atmosphere of the final work. It is deliberate, restrained, and deeply poetic.
Here, color is not decoration… but architecture.
What Is Color Blocking?
Color blocking is the stage where you lay in thin, broad areas of local color over the dried underpainting.The goal is not detail — not yet.Instead, you are:
establishing major color families,
defining warm and cool relationships,
and preserving the careful value structure from the dead layer beneath.
This step sets the emotional temperature of the painting, long before the magic of glazing begins.
Why the Old Masters Approached Color This Way
Rembrandt, Rubens, and Vermeer all understood something critical:
A brilliant painting is not built with one perfect color… but with perfect relationships between colors.
Color blocking allowed them to map those relationships early on — without rushing into polish or detail.
The Purpose of Color Blocking
1. Create the First Layer of Mood
Warm golds, cool shadows, muted reds, and earthy olives begin to whisper the final atmosphere.
2. Strengthen Color Harmony
By limiting the palette and laying broad, unified passages, the painting gains cohesiveness.
3. Protect the Value Structure
Color is applied transparently or semi-opaquely so the dead layer can still guide the lights and shadows.
4. Prepare for Glazing and Scumbling
Smooth, well-placed color blocks create a stable, luminous bed for the transparent glazes that come later.
How to Approach Color Blocking
Step 1: Keep the Palette Limited
Most Dutch palettes were small and harmonious — think:
Yellow ochre
Venetian red or light umber
Raw umber
Ivory black
Ultramarine or smalt (later periods)
Lead white (modern equivalent: titanium + small amount of ivory black)
Less color = more harmony.
Step 2: Work Thin, Transparent, and Calm
Use high-solvent mixtures or just a small amount of medium.Avoid thick paint — this stage is about clarity, not texture.
Step 3: Respect the Underpainting
Let the dead layer guide your decisions.The goal is to tint the form, not cover it.
Step 4: Build Warm vs. Cool Relationships
This is where the painting begins to glow.Warm lights against cool shadows — the heart of Dutch realism.
Step 5: Leave Detail for Later
Think of color blocking as the “big shapes only” stage. You are laying in broad masses, not painting eyelashes or reflections.
What a Good Color Block Should Look Like
A well-done color block looks:
a little rough,
a little unfinished,
but beautifully unified.
You should be able to see the dead layer underneath, supporting every shape. It is the soft rehearsal before the performance of glazing.
Why This Stage Matters
Many beginner painters try to rush to the “pretty parts” — highlights, reflections, tiny details.The Dutch Masters did the opposite.
They spent enormous care on these early layers because they understood:
If the structure is wrong, no amount of detail can save it.If the structure is right, detail becomes effortless.
How This Connects Back to the Main Guide
“The Dutch Masters Method — A Step-by-Step Guide to Classical Oil Painting.”
Readers who follow Step 4 properly will enter Step 5 — the First Painting — with clarity and confidence.
Coming Next: Step 5 — First Painting (The Modeling Layer)
This is where you begin refining form, building textures, and moving from broad passages to beautiful precision.
Read the main guide: The Dutch Masters Method - A Step-by-Step Guide to Classical Oil Painting.
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