Working on Dead Layers

"Plain Mandarin" Dead Layer WIP

5" x 5" on Gallery Wrapped Canvas

I see "Dead Layers".....is that bad??

Anyway, the Umber layer of the two paintings I'm working on have been completed and are finally dry. They are:

5 x 5 "Plain Mandarin" on gallery-wrapped canvas

9 x 12 "Mandarin and Tulip Bowl" on Gessoed Board

Here you see the small 5 x 5 with what's called the "Dead Layer", which is nothing more than a grayscale painting in oil over the Umber Layer. I completed the dead layer today in just about two hours. You can see some of the Umber showing through which gives more depth, I think, than just a plain greyscale underpainting. So I guess that's an even dead-er layer.

OK enough silliness...off to "dead layer" the bigger painting, "Mandarin and Tulip Bowl".