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Glazing Techniques

Cosmetic Enhancement Only, Not Cosmetic Surgery!
 

Glazing techniques are an important aspect of painting. It is a good exercise to have your colour wheel handy while reading through this exercise. As you read, refer to your colour wheel and you will find some of the information easier to understand as you'll be able to visualize the colours. You may also remember more in the long run.
Glazing is an important way to manage your painting while it is in it's development stages as well as at the finishing stage. Not only to settle the final values and intensities of colours, but to 'tweak' and to help establish the important 'flow' from the focal point to the rest of the painting. Glazing can also assist you in establishing the colour relationships between different objects and elements within the painting, and how they relate to each other, and to the painting as a whole.

We need to adjust our painting during the development stage of the painting. The technique we will use more often than not, is to 'glaze' with colour. It is by far, one of the most useful techniques you can master. With each paint medium, oil or acrylic, there might be somewhat different ways and methods for applying this glaze, but the end goal is still the same.

What is a Glaze? 'Glazing' is the technique that allows us to apply a thin transparent layer of colour over another dry layer. What glazing means is that we apply some pigment (paint) with the help of a liquid vehicle (medium) over another colour.
In acrylic painting, we can sometimes glaze with the help of water, however for the best results it is better to use Glazing medium which facilitates the passage of light and allows for the creation of greater depth.
However, one must be careful when using water, because if the paint is thinned out so much that there is no binder left (the glue stuff that makes the paint particles adhere to each other and the surface that you are painting) when you move to another step in the process you run the risk of removing all your hard work on the first step, because as that paint dries, there is nothing there to hold the paint together. Less, is always best! Use these mediums sparingly.


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Glazing Usually Deepens Colours
Basically, glazing will darken an area slightly or even quite dramatically, depending on how many times you glaze with that colour and how dark the pigment is, that you choose to use.
If you are a decorative painter who paints with acrylics, you are familiar with the terms 'float' or 'side load' This technique is in actuality, 'glazing' and the reason we use this technique is to assist in creating the actual form or shape of the object, add shadows or adjust the tone, colour, temperature etc. In the photo above, one can see where the beard of this old man has been glazed with colour to deepen the colour on the outside edges of the beard.
When we apply a glaze to an area of a painting or an object, the glaze will make the area appear darker. When adjusting the form of your object, a good point to remember is, the more you glaze, the more you change the value of that particular area. Glazing should not be used to create dramatic change too quickly or be used to try and repair something that is incorrectly painted. It will only add insult to injury in that case.
The glazing process should be thought of as cosmetic enhancement, not cosmetic surgery!

When glazing, you want to be sure the colour you glaze with is transparent. If not, you will create a cloudy effect and this can spoil the work you are doing. If you are new to oil painting, you will see on every tube, a rating or symbol telling you if it is transparent, semi-transparent or opaque. Get to know the pigments in your paint box.

If the colour is a very transparent one, and I just need a little area adjusted, I can use the paint by it self, but if it is a larger area, this is what I do;

Method of Application

I use a little Extender to prep the surface first, and using a small 'brite' brushes (short bristle) I pick up a tiny amount of paint and blend it into the bristles of the brush on my palette paper. I then go to my surface and tap in tiny amounts of the colour paint on the given area, spreading it thinly and evenly with the brush held very flat to the painting surface. Use a pulling motion with the hand as you spread the paint around. When you are satisfied that the paint is giving you ample adjustment it is time to refine what you have done. I will then use a tiny mop brush to soften the edges and blend out any unwanted brush strokes, always leaving a soft gradation of values at the outer edge of the paint I have just applied. You can repeat this step on another area, moving across your painting, adjusting different areas with different colours as need be.
I always let this dry well, either with the use of a blow dryer. The kind of medium you use will dictate the drying time. Read the label.
When glazing with acrylics, one has to use a medium like Traditions extender to allow you the time to work a little slower. There certainly is the issue of using colours that are transparent, as many bottled acrylic colours have so much opaque filler in them they create a muddy effect immediately. However there are some very transparent and semi transparent colours in Traditions made specifically to emulate the glazing techniques of the Old Masters. Look for these colours specifically.

Water as a medium in this application, often times dries too quickly and since water is a natural solvent of traditions paint it is not a great choice, so extender or glazing medium will give you more play time. Remember what I mentioned above about diluting the paint too thin, that you remove the binder, or dilute it so it has no effect, and run the risk of wiping off your glaze with the next step. I suggest when you are finished painting this stage, to apply a barrier coat of glaze medium, let dry and then move on to the next stage.
The application is exactly the same as above, where you spread some medium over an area and then apply the paint sparingly and disperse with a brush and soften with a mop. Unless you are floating colour, where you use a side-load technique on the brush, and apply the paint differently )using the same brushes and a small detail mop to soften. Always dry well between the applications.

Antiquing
If you have ever 'antiqued' a painting, piece of folk art, etc. that is actually 'glazing' too, you are applying a thin layer of a darker colour (sometimes Burnt Umber or Raw Umber) over all your work, or to specific areas to give the warm patina to an otherwise fresh array of new colours. All to create the timeworn look of age. You can 'antique' with any transparent colour. Burnt Umber and Raw Umber are popular choices because their earthy warm pigments help in neutralizing most colours and help to 'tone' things down. If you have ever painted a piece that you weren't absolutely happy with, found the colours too vibrant for your taste, antique it!

When will I Glaze?
There are so many uses for glazing, I will list just a few of them here and explain when and where you might choose to use them. The possibilities are endless, but this might get you started. Glazing can be done to a large area of a painting, in acrylics, we 'wash' areas of painting with colour. Sometimes in oils we will do the same, especially when painting landscapes, sky, water and larger flatter areas, like fields, meadows, objects in the distance. Or, we might just want to adjust a smaller area like the edge of one object.

1. To change the value (lightness or darkness) of an area - In this case you need the area you are glazing to be darker than it already is. (A glaze is not a good choice to lighten an area) If you apply a lighter value over a darker one with a glazing technique, you run the risk of creating a 'chalky' effect. There are other methods more effective and safer to use like 'scumbling' when wanting to lighten)
2. To change the temperature (coolness or warmth) of a colour - should you need to adjust the temperature of a colour, using a 'glaze' that is made from one of it's neighbors (next to) on the colour wheel is one way, (there are many others)
e.g.. If you had a violet pansy, and you wanted to cool an area or edge of the pansy, choosing to use a glaze made with blue violet might do the trick.
By the same token, if you wanted to warm some areas of this same pansy, you might try using a little red violet.
3. If you wanted to brighten an area (make the hue more intense) you might try glazing a little of that color's warmer neighbor (next to) or choose a more intense hue that is closer to the mother colour on the outside of the colour wheel. e.g.. If I had a blueberry that looked a little pale, I might glaze it with a little blue violet, violet, or even red violet until it was bright enough for my painting.
4. The opposite effect of the #3 step above, is if I wanted to dull an object or area, this also has a cooling effect) I might try using the cool neighbor of that base colour, or using a little of that colours compliment the colour directly opposite on the wheel), or I might even try an earth tone.
5. If I wanted to draw attention to an area, that is intensify a particular area like a focal point, I might want one area to stand out more than another. If I use a little of that colours compliment right next to it, I will create a heightened bit of tension in that area, which will call attention to that area.
6. If I want an object to recede into the next object or the background. (sometimes you might want an object to move back) I might want to use a bit of the same hue as the object or background, on the edge of the one I am trying to recede.
e.g.. This is a dramatic example only, but will allow you to picture this exercise. If you have a black background and you paint a bright green leaf on it, the leaf will pop right off the background. Now if you painted a dark cool green leaf on the black background it will be closer to the value and temperature of the background. If you want the edge of the leaf to disappear completely into the background, glaze it with the same colour as the background which in this case is black. Get it?
7. If I wanted an object to come forward or advance, I would glaze all of it or an edge of it with a little colour that is brighter than the object next to it, or behind it.
8. If you want to create a cast shadow from one object to another, always choose a colour that is transparent, is cooler than the object receiving the shadow and the glaze must be blended to exhibit three distinct values. You may have to apply this shadow a few times to achieve the 3 values needed.
e.g.. If you had a shadow falling on a red apple, the shadow will be a cooler red than the apple. The hue you select will lean more to the (bluer reds) like red violet or even violet, until the right value, and depth of colour is achieved for the shadow.

So you can see from my few suggestions, using a glaze is a great way to control your painting while it is in it's development stages as well as at the final stage. Not only to decide the final values and intensities of colours, but to establish the important 'flow' from the focal point to the rest of the painting.
Glazing can also assist you in creating the colour and value relationships between different objects and how they relate to each other and to the painting as a whole.
When asking yourself the questions of 'IF' you need to adjust an area of a painting or not, tip the painting upside down and look at it backwards in a mirror... yes, the family will wonder!!!! but this is one way to see if something jumps out at you that shouldn't be there. ....Has something to do with the right and left brain thing! Works for me, in fact I use this as a very valuable tool in assessing all my paintings. The mirror has a way of giving up secrets that only you will see!

Neadeen Masters CDA
November 8th. 2003 ~Copyright 2003

Glazing Techniques