The Magic of Glazing

Glazing can transform a mediocre painting into something special, using the principles of unity and contrast. Create Unity, for example, with a warm glaze over the entire painting.  Or increase Contrast by with dark glazes over backgrounds in that play off the center of interest. 

You can also create contrast of near and far. With dark glazes of dull blues you can  push the background of a landscape into the distance. Or use just a bit of warm glaze on the foreground or the center of interest to bring it forward or into prominence. After applying a glaze, you can then re-work the highest and lowest values of the painting, especially where the glaze has obscured them. 

I did all these techniques on this piece, "Layers of Reality."

Originally the distant hills were brighter. I knocked them back with some blues but also unified the whole piece with a mixture of orange and ochre. Then I repainted some of the foreground highlights more sharply. Maybe I should have called it "Layers of Glazes"!  It was a plein air piece, and with oils you have to wait a few days for the lower layers to dry, as compared to acrylics. But with Extended Plein Air painting it works beautifully: return to the same place at the same time of day for a few days or weeks.

Admittedly, it can give you pause to paint over an area you may have spent hours perfecting. You can, of course, wipe off the glaze immediately if you don't like the effect, but it will likely leave some residue anyway. (You can also selectively wiping the glaze off of important details first and see if that is a good way to to bring them out by contrast.)

When I have demonstrated glazing, the first question everyone asks, is "What do you use? "

FOR ACRYLICS:  Start with one of the matte or semi-gloss glazes manufactured by acrylic paint makers such as Liquitex or Golden. I use Liquitex Glazing Medium. The stuff seems pretty much like a thin version of white glue. Indeed, when acrylics first came out (yes, I'm that old), we used to mix powdered Tempera with Elmer's glue in high school art class to achieve the same effects, which, by the way, have stood the test of time.

Do use the proper materials, though. But like white glue, acrylic glazing medium has a slightly adhesive quality. That's its virtue: it adheres very small amounts of pigment to the layers beneath in a way that water alone will not do as well. So be sure to keep your brushes in water. 

FOR OILS:  I am old-school when it comes to oil mediums. My art education emphasized mixing your own mediums based on classic formulas by Ralph Meyers, a guru of artist's materials.

These formulas are tried and tested and you can easily adjust them according to the basic principle of oil painting: "lean to fat" (unfortunately an all-too familiar truism in life). 

This principle means: don't apply thin coats of paint with small amounts of oil over thick juicy passages loaded with oil. The bottom layers dry slower and the surface sooner, resulting in cracking.

Likewise, don't use water-based paints over oil-based paints. Housepainters tell me, however, you can coat very thoroughly dry oil-based stain CAN with a water-based varnish. But don't take chances with a potential masterpiece. I once accidentally started an acrylic painting on a very thoroughly dry old piece of oil-primed linen and it soon became apparent that the surface was repelling the paint. (Now I make sure to mark all my canvases A or O for the type of primer!)

Back to Meyer's formulas for glazing oils. For lean glazes over thin passages mix equal parts Stand Oil (sun-thickened linseed oil) and Damar Varnish. Thin it with 5-7 parts of mineral spirits or odorless thinner.  For "fatter" final glazes over more oil-laden surfaces, use the same formula but with just 1 part thinner. Meyer suggests a few drops of Cobalt dryer to aid drying, but others suggest this could cause cracking for the same reason as above: I haven't seen it happen so far.

Enough of technicalities. Now for the fun part, application. 

First, be sure your painting is dry enough that you wont' disturb your work so far. (Acrylics lend themselves to glazing "en plein air" for this reason and you can do the whole thing in one session.)

Next, pour some medium into a small medium cup or jar lid, or even just a blob on a disposable palette. Dip your brush into just a TAD of color and mix it with medium. Err on the side of too little color, as you can always add more.

For greater clarity, use the more transparent colors, such as earths and lakes. But if you wish to haze out and reduce contrasts in a background area, you can mix in a small bit of white or simply use the more opaque colors such as the cadmiums or cobalts. You can either brush it on or use a lint-free cotton rag to spread it quickly and evenly over your painting. You may wish to come back with other subtle layers of color and glazing to spice up the painting with vibrant colors as in this acrylic, "Interconnected":

Play with it and you will see for yourself the magic of glazing.  

But before you start, take a look at this remarkable one-minute video by John Cogan, a master painter. A picture is worth a thousand words and this shows you exactly how glazing (and subsequent highlight touchups) has the potential to bring a whole new quality to your artwork!