I wanted to see what it would look like if I painted the b&w stage in acrylic and then glazed in oils over the top – how would the colours and texture differ from a fully oil paint painting?
I also wanted to test the light shining into the space idea before I did it on a bigger canvas!
I took a photo of the painting each after each layer of glazing (just about):
What works well
The colours are wonderfully radiant. It’s interesting what happens to the glaze on the edges of them. On the edge of the cone of light there is some radiant blue which adds to the atmospheric quality of the painting.
The column of light works, it has potential on the bigger paintings. I can’t wait to add it to a bigger painting I am working on.
It’s amazing how much light and atmosphere this glazing technique can add. Kasia commented that it looks like a traditional painting that has been made contemporary, or something like that. I thought that was interesting! I haven’t thought much about how the viewer might find a connection between the style of traditional old masters paintings and mine. How does that affect how the painting is received and interpreted?
Where the white light overlaps with brushstrokes in places it makes it look as if the light is hitting the edge of the brushstroke:
This was just due to me not being careful with glazes overlapping intended boundaries! A good mistake.
What doesn’t work well:
Adding the collumn of light was a little tricky. The white didn’t go on very smoothly and ended up being patchy in places:
I don’t want this because I want the glaze to look smooth, so that the painting process is removed from the finished cone of light. I want to remove any suggestion of my painting process from the light because that will I think make it look more alien strange and mystical – where did it come from?
I think I had this problem because the glazed layer underneath was still tacky, so the fresh paint got caught on the semi-dry glaze underneath and made a fun dragged texture. More patience!
In a future painting I could add more light and dark to the brush marks caught in the light. When doing it I really forgot that I could add shadows with glazing, and not just highlights! I’ll do that with the next one, it’ll be important for creating depth and a sense of space in the painting and with the light.
There are no white highlights in the painting. Someone in the studio said they liked the white in my older non-glazed paintings (and I agree). I tried wiping away some of the glaze on the greyscale highlights but that didn’t work. So I’ll have to either/and avoid white highlights with the glazes, or add a white glaze at the end? I’ll give it a go next time.
Next
I’m happy with the outcome of this painting.
I want to compare the colours and textures of this with the big painting I am working on which is all done in oils.
I’ll take these learnings with me for the big painting I am working on!
Georgina Harris 