Glazing and Scumbling in Oil Paint
Katie LiddiardDescription
When you find yourself looking twice at a painting you thought was done and spotting areas you wish were brighter or warmer, there are two classic techniques that can give you a second chance. Artist and instructor Katie Liddiard says that glazing and scumbling can be your best friends when it comes to refining a finished painting. Working on a painting that she completed some time ago, Katie points out areas that she’d like to alter slightly without having to repaint the entire section. Specifically, she identifies the center of a gorgeous, pearly seashell where she’d like to add a hint more pink with glazing, or adding thin layers of medium with small amounts of color added. Using just a small amount of Oleogel medium and a bit of one of the quinacridone pinks from her palette, Katie slowly paints the area of the seashell with a subtle touch, then adds in a touch more of pink shade from her palette. This glazing technique can add depth to any painting, she says, as you build up very thin layers.
With glazing, you can alter the color slightly or warm it up, pull back if you need to by removing a bit, and work with these thin layers of paint to get the desired effect. Katie’s second refinement technique of scumbling is similar, but adds light where glazing can deepen the color. Katie uses a mixture of her Oleogel medium, the desired color, and white to add highlight areas to her painting and add contrast for that little extra something that refines and completes the artwork.
Do you ever finish a painting, look back on it about a week or two later and realize, I just wish that this area was a little bit brighter, wish this area was a little bit warmer? That's where glazing and scumbling will be your best friends. I'm Katie Liddiard. And I'm here to show you how to do that. I have this painting that I finished quite a while ago. But there are little areas that I wish I could just alter just a touch without actually having to repaint the whole area. So what I'll do, I've always kind of wish that there was just a little bit more pink in there, which is easy enough to pop in with some medium. Grab a little pink color here, not a whole lot, especially with these quinacridones which are really vibrant. And you can see just how subtle of a tone I can get with that medium. Bring it up here and slowly add that pink in. It's the subtlest touch that makes a huge difference. If I wanna punch it up just a little bit more, not a problem, add a little bit more pigment. And I can come back and add that in. I glaze a lot in my paintings so that I don't have to actually go back and repaint an entire section. It saves a lot of time. And it tends to add a lot of depth to your painting, because you have that really thin layer upon layer upon layer upon layer. That's the beauty of oil painting, is that you get those depths of layers in there. Now, if I want to slightly alter, I still can. Warm that up a little bit, and I can hit it right here, inside that shell. I can always pull back more if I need to. And again, it just adds that a little extra something. So that's glazing. But scumbling is kind of where you take the lighter side of glazing. So where glazing tends to be a bit more darker, scumbling tends to be more lighter. So what I'll do, same process, get a little bit of medium, get a little white. Just a touch. And let's say right here along this edge, I wanna punch it up. It's a little too subtle, so I'll get just a little bit more. I just bring out that light very, very subtly. Again, this isn't going to be dramatic in any way, but it will add that little extra flare that the painting has been asking for. Hope this was helpful in your paintings.
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