Secrets they never told you about Glazing with Watercolour - Painting & Drawing Tips

How did you learn to paint?

Few classes. Few books. Some YouTube. Lots of Practice.

That's how I learned too!

PICK OF THE HERD - Work in Progress #3 - Watercolour 12 x 16. 

Really its a never ending journey, there is always more things to do and try.  I must admit glazing wasn't really something I spent a lot of time with. The book said put down yellow, glaze with blue and you got a green.  So what? Now I know, different.

They didn't tell me the Secrets . . .

There is way more to glazing then getting a different shade of green.  

When I create my birds and animals I like them to be similar to my drawings.  Very lifelike. Feathers and fur soft to touch.  With a deep sense of realism.  In order to do that in graphite, I need to work in layers.  When I moved to watercolour I realized I needed to do the same thing.  Layers.  Lots of layers. 

Suddenly, I was in the World of Glazing and didn't even realize it.  As I was blending my edges, fighting to get the right colour, I accidentally glazed.  Ooooh!  You are probably thinking.  Maybe I do that too. 

What is glazing?
Glazing is putting a light layer of wash over another colour that is dry.  The result is a colour change to the initial colour.  Usually this is done with transparent colours.  The result is a very transparent look.  (ie.  the light goes through the pigment to the paper and there is a shine to the area.) 

But there is more to glazing than the transparent look . . . 

WIP #1: Under-painting for the body - Wet onto dry.  (not sure why I did the head first, I just did. A funny place to try out my colours but  . . )

Check out the under-painting for 'The Pick of the Herd'.  Notice the 3 different areas of his body.  I put down only a base colour that I wanted to shine through. 

Did you know purple glazed over orange equals brown?

And really interesting browns too.  A red purple gives a much different look than a blue purple. (Of course you have to use a mixed purple rather than one straight out of the tube.)

Once I had my base down, I glazed over the areas with different colours.  At first I glazed with my warm yellow orange, to darken the colour. Then I started to lay out the markings with darker colours.  Then more glazing. 

Why all this glazing?

1.  Transparency: I wanted my horse to have a transparent look.  It seems to give my animals a great sense of mass.  I also really like that look.  To me his heightens the realistic look I am seeking.

WIP # 2 - Building up the layers on the neck and mid section of the horse.  Not the strong red glazed on to the front leg and the lower stomach.  

2.  Blending: The colour transitions on an animal have to be smooth and blended.  By putting the markings on early, it allows the many layers on top to smooth those edges.  You can see that the markings on my horse have a smooth transition from dark to light.

3.  Add tints of colour: My horse has a redish tone to his coat and I wanted that in the final results.  So on many of the transition points of light to dark, I glazed with a red. Light glazes of course.  This gave rich redish tones to my golden yellow area.  You can see this in the 2nd WIP picture of my horse. 

4. Darkening Colour: Of course you can also just keep glazing with the same colours.  This will make your colour darker but also gives it a rich tone.  The transparency quality gives it depth, giving the horse's hide a softness that makes you want to touch it. 

As you work with glazing you will probably think of other ways you use it.  It can be in big areas or small.  For me though,  these are the big 4 ways I use it. 

Side Notes:
- It takes many layers to build up your colour. 
- Because you are working wet onto dry, you must wait until the layers below are dry.  Patients is needed.  I work in other areas of the picture while I wait, work on a drawing or fold the laundry. 
- You can't fiddle.  One or two brush strokes then move on.  If you 'work an area' with too many strokes you will lift the paint underneath.  Remember, you are only putting on a light layer of pigment so let things dry and try again. 
- My Palette for the main horse:  Ultramarine Blue, Permanent Rose (for my purple); Quinacridone Gold, Burnt Sienna, Indian Red (a new colour I was trying out)

Try some glazing.  It is really amazing how you can change colours. 

Further reading:

Step-by-Step Glazing with Watercolour - a detailed look at how the layers are added
The Secrets of Watercolour Paper - a look at different types of paper and how they will perform when glazing and other types of painting with watercolour.
Watercolour Over Glazes - John Lovett - interesting different colours to glaze with and other uses for it. 
Transparent and Opaque Watercolour - DeviantArt - a good discussion on the what and how they can be used.

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