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Glazing: The Secret to Depth, Glow, and Master-Level Paintings - The Atelier Newsletter
Published 7 months ago • 3 min read
Glazing. If you’ve ever looked at an Old Master painting and wondered, how does the light seem to come from within?—this is it. It’s one of the most powerful techniques in oil painting, yet it’s often misunderstood.
Done right, glazing creates richness, depth, and luminosity. Done wrong? It looks patchy, sticky, or even ruins the painting.
Let’s break it down so you can use glazing the right way.
Master the Secret to Depth with Glazing
1. What Is Glazing, Really?
A glaze is a thin, transparent layer of paint applied over a dry layer. Unlike opaque paint, which covers, a glaze tints what’s underneath while letting the details and structure show through.
A big green glaze has been applied on the dress and subtle pink and orange glazes on the face.
Think of it like stained glass—light passes through and reflects back with a new color. This is why glazing can make paintings glow in a way that opaque paint alone never can.
▶️ TRY THIS: Take all the opaque pigments you have and paint stripes (image above on the left). Let dry. A couple of days later, apply glazes over the stripes with your transparent pigments (image above on the right). See the effects and understand all the potential of your palette.
2. The Biggest Mistake People Make With Glazing
Glazing seems easy—just thin down some paint and spread it over, right? Nope. It's actually pretty tricky because you can never know the effect before you try it.
Here’s what most people get wrong with glazes:
❌ Too much oil or medium – The glaze becomes greasy and won’t dry properly. ❌ Too thick – Instead of glowing, it looks muddy and dull. ❌ Using the wrong pigments – Some paints aren’t meant for glazing (opaque pigments kill the effect).
Yellow glazed over blue is not the same as blue glazed over yellow. But how can you know how it's going to look before you apply?
▶️ TRY THIS: Instead of directly applying your glaze on the canvas and guessing it, paint your glaze on a small piece of glass and place it over the part of the painting you plan on glazing. This trick will allow you to see how it could look.
3. How to Handle Uneven Shine in a Glazed Painting
Here’s a great question from a student:
"If you glaze a portion of a painting and not another, how do you get the luminosity to be even? One part looks shiny, the other doesn’t. How do you fix this?"
-1- First, embrace it. Instead of fighting the difference, use it strategically. Glazed areas naturally have more depth and glow. If you plan your painting with this in mind, you can make focal points pop.
See how the blue dress (glazed) seem to pop forward compared to the non-glazed background.
-2- Second, varnishing helps—but doesn’t completely even it out. A final varnish will reduce the contrast between glossy and matte areas, but glazed parts will always have more optical depth.
▶️ TRY THIS: If the uneven sheen bothers you during the process, apply a light oil-out layer (a very thin rub of oil medium over the painting) to unify the surface before continuing, it will create the same visual effect as a varnish but remains workable afterwards.
Glazing works beautifully in certain areas—but not everywhere.
✅ Best places to glaze: Shadows, subtle transitions around the shadows, color rich objects, high-focus elements. ❌ Avoid glazing in: Highlights, thick impasto areas, anything you want to appear solid and opaque.
A common trick from the Old Masters: glaze around the shadows, but keep lights more opaque. This makes the highlights stand out even more and soften the transitions.
Know when not to glaze: It's a powerful weapon, keep your ammunition for where it actually matters. Don't glaze everywhere.
▶️ TRY THIS: Next time you work on a portrait, try glazing only the areas transitioning into shadows. It will deepen the chroma, make the form feel more realistic and life-like.
Glazing is one of those techniques that separates beginners from master-level painters. It’s subtle, powerful, and takes practice. But once you get the hang of it, you’ll start seeing light and color in a whole new way.
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Free Art Newsletter filled with the best oil painting and drawing tips, directly from the Atelier tradition. Timeless techniques to enjoy weekly to grow and inspire.
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