A “Broad to Specific” Technique Using Neutrals
Added 2025-07-09 11:39:23 +0000 UTCI made this self portrait (14x14in) during Covid lockdown June 2020. In light of my Helen Schjerkbeck post yesterday, I am revealing my past processes of making opaque passages of a-chromatic layers in a portrait. These works had no transfer and were free handed from abstraction. The vibrant blue shirt and green background were added towards the final layer. Glazing pigments looks best if there’s a full bodied dry opaque film underlying. At one point I had made the shirt a light lavender knowing I would go back over with the glazed transparent cobalt blue. You can get some pretty cool effects by glazing in this way, techniques I learned while studying in the museums in Italy.
Comments
The last close up is a killer 🔥🔥🔥
tania rivilis
2025-07-11 13:09:40 +0000 UTCYou’re absolutely correct. I use lead white which dries quicker than titanium white, also i use Gmabling Galkyd gel to speed drying.
colleen barry
2025-07-11 10:59:07 +0000 UTCI am uncertain, but I “think” to glaze you must wait until the primary layers are dry first, right? If so, do you use something to make the opaque paint dry faster on the primary layers? Titanium white takes forever to dry for me.
Sara Pendergast
2025-07-11 03:31:19 +0000 UTC
