Glazing - What is it?

Glazing is a painting technique that is used in oil and acrylic painting. It is a process of painting "layers" of thin (hopefully) transparent paint over a dried painting to produce a rich deep colorful painting that has layers of transparent colors one on top of the other. Acrylic paint works great for this glazing technique as it dries very quickly. After you begin your painting you will have to wait for it to dry completely before you can proceed to paint the second layer over the first one. You need to use very thin diluted paint in the process. You can use oil paint with this technique but it will take longer to dry unless you use the Griffin Alkyd type of oil paints that dry faster than the regular oil paints. Some artists will have many different painting "in process of being painted" and can stop and let one dry and then just go on to another project they had put down for awhile. Sometimes it helps an artist to put a painting down for awhile and then come back to it with a fresh eye and then proceed with the project on to its finish. Glazing is great for painting such things as a creek bed with transparent water so see the rocks and things under the water. Painting water drops is another subject that you would use transparent glazing on. I recommend you try this technique, it is fun and can provide great results with your own paintings.