46 Artists Magazine January/February 2020
1 Laguë works on large paintings with the canvas tacked
to his studio wall. A computer monitor shows his photo ref-
erence with an imposed grid. Using pencil, he lightly marks
a grid in the same scale on his canvas. Laguë then begins
a loosely brushed, washed-in sketch, using a gray mixed
from ultramarine blue and transparent earth red.2a & 2b^ Standing on a small platform to help him reach
the top of the painting, Laguë washes in an underpainting
(2a). A close-up of the underpainting (2b) shows a variety
of loose strokes with visible drips and spatters.3a & 3b^ Laguë begins to lay color over the underpaint-
ing, section by section, leaving plenty of gaps. He drags and
pushes the paint, but doesn’t fuss with it (3a).^ Note the pile
of ‘mother’ color (in this case, a light blue-turquoise) on the
palette behind the artist (3b). Bringing this color into all parts
of the painting confers unity as well as color activity against the
dominant grays. A splash of red on the right side of the painting
exaggerates a color incident in the reference photo.Painting the Town
1
2b
2a
3a
3b