| Glazing |
|
|
|
A glaze is a transparent or semi-transparent coat of paint applied over another color, which must be perfectly dry, to get certain effects.
Transparent oil paint is the traditional medium to use for glazes, but the drawback is the long drying periods. Acrylics dry very fast. This is especially helpful when applying several glazes one over the other. Master of the past glazed over their oil paints and had to wait weeks and months for them to reglaze again. The disadvantage to the glazing of a painting with oils is that they are likely to be removed at some future time, when the varnish of the picture must be removed for cleaning. With acrylics, this will not occur as acrylic varnish does not yellow or crack and the picture can be satisfactorily cleaning simply by sponging over with a solution of soap and water.
Glazing techniques, we will take a wine bottle that you have drawn on canvas and we will prepare the glazing technique by employing a monochrome under painting. After the dark shadows have been applied, thinner glazes of the monochrome under painting are added. A second glaze of green, sap green, and ultramarine blue is applied to the whole bottle. After this has dried, you the artist feel that the area containing the bottle is not yellow enough, so a third glaze of sag green and lemon yellow is applied. Each glaze was thinned with gel medium to a very transparent color. After the final glaze has dried, opaque highlights are added. Do not overstate the highlights; less is best in this case. |