Glazing Techniques for Painting Highlights and Shadows on Clouds in Oil
Oil painting provides artists with a range of techniques to create beautiful and realistic clouds with depth and luminosity. One of the most effective techniques is glazing, which involves layering thin transparent coats of color over one another. In this article, we will focus on how to paint highlights and shadows on clouds using glazing techniques in oil.
1. Start with oiling in. Before you begin painting, prepare your painting by oiling in the surface. This means applying a thin coat of painting medium (50/50 mix) to the canvas to provide a surface for your paint to adhere to and allow the paint to go smoothly.
2. Add the first layer of glaze. To paint the highlights on the clouds, start by mixing titanium white with a medium, such as linseed oil, to create a thin and transparent glaze. Apply this to the areas of the clouds where you want the highlights to be.
3. Build up the highlights. As you apply additional layers of the white glaze, build up the highlights by adding more paint to the areas where you want the highlights to be more prominent. Make sure each layer is thin and transparent, so that the previous layers show through.
4. Add shadows with glazing. To create contrast and give the clouds more dimension, you can add shadows using glazing techniques. Start by mixing a dark color, such as ultramarine blue and raw umber, or cerulean blue with raw umber and a touch of alizarin, with a medium to create a thin and transparent glaze. Apply this to the areas of the clouds where you want the shadows to be.
5. Blend the layers. After each layer has dried, use a blending tool, such as a soft brush or a blending knife, to soften and blend the layers together. This will create a smooth and cohesive look, with subtle variations in color and tone that add depth and luminosity to the clouds.
In conclusion, painting highlights and shadows on clouds using glazing techniques in oil is a great way to create depth and luminosity in your paintings. By oiling in the canvas, adding thin layers of white for highlights, and using glazing to add shadows, you can increase contrast and create stunning and realistic clouds in your paintings.
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Acrylic paint is known for its fast-drying time, which can be both a blessing and a curse for artists. While the fast-drying time allows you to complete your paintings quickly, it can also make it difficult to blend and manipulate the paint as you work. If you’re struggling with your acrylic paint drying too fast, here are some tips to help you slow it down:
1. Use a Retarder: Retarders are specifically designed to slow down the drying time of acrylic paint. Simply add a small amount of retarder to your paint before you start painting and it will stay wet for a longer period of time, giving you more time to work with it.
2. Mist Your Paint with Water: A light mist of water can help to slow down the drying time of acrylic paint. Simply use a spray bottle to mist your paint with water before you start painting, or as you work. Just be careful not to add too much water, as this can cause the paint to become too thin and runny.
3. Paint on a Moist Surface: Painting on a surface that is slightly moist can also help to slow down the drying time of acrylic paint. Simply dampen the surface before you start painting and the paint will take longer to dry.
4. Cover Your Paint: Covering your paint with a damp cloth or plastic wrap can help to slow down the drying time as well. This method is particularly useful if you need to take a break from your painting and don’t want the paint to dry out while you’re gone.
5. Use Slow-Drying Mediums: Adding a slow-drying medium to your paint can also help to slow down its drying time. Slow-drying mediums are specifically designed to extend the working time of acrylic paint and can be found at most art supply stores.
6. Dampen your brushes with water before you start painting. Just put them in water for a few minutes and then wipe out the excess water, leaving the bristles slightly damp.
In conclusion, there are several ways to prevent your acrylic paint from drying too fast. From using a retarder to misting your paint with water, there are plenty of options available to help you extend the working time of your acrylic paint and create beautiful, detailed paintings.
Oil paint and acrylic paint are two of the most commonly used mediums in painting, and each has its own unique properties and characteristics. By combining these two mediums in a single painting, you can create rich and complex compositions that are not possible with just one medium alone. One way to do this is to use oil paint to add details to an acrylic painting.
Here are some tips for applying oil paint to an acrylic painting:
Prepare the Surface: Before you start adding oil paint to your acrylic painting, make sure that the surface is clean, dry, and free from any residue or grease.
1. Wait for the Acrylic Paint to Dry: Acrylic paint dries much more quickly than oil paint, so it’s important to wait until the acrylic paint is fully dry before you start applying oil paint. This usually takes around 24 hours, but can vary depending on the thickness of the acrylic paint.
2. Use a Painting Medium to prepare the surface: To make the oil paint easier to work with, you can use a medium such as a 50/50 OMS/Linseed Oil Mix. I actually like to use a 30/70 OMS/Linseed Oil Mix. These mediums help to thin the oil paint and make it easier to manipulate and blend with the acrylic paint.
3. Apply the Oil Paint in Thin Layers: When adding oil paint to an acrylic painting, it’s best to work in thin layers. This will help you to build up the desired level of detail without overwhelming the acrylic paint and altering its appearance.
4. Blend the Oil over the Acrylic Paints: To create a seamless transition between the oil and acrylic paints, it’s important to blend the two mediums together. That doesn’t mean mixing them. It just means blending over top, so it looks like they fit together. You can do this by using a blending brush or your fingers to smooth out any rough edges between the two mediums.
5. Avoid Overworking: When adding oil paint to an acrylic painting, it’s important to avoid overworking the surface. Overworking the paint can result in an overly heavy or muddy appearance, so it’s best to work in small, controlled areas and stop once you have achieved the desired effect.
In conclusion, adding oil paint to an acrylic painting is a great way to add details and enhance the richness and complexity of your compositions. By following these tips, you can create beautiful and detailed paintings that are full of depth and character.
Painting in oil and acrylic can be a lot of fun, but many artists struggle with getting the right level of looseness in their brushwork. Looseness in painting is important because it adds a sense of liveliness and energy to your work, and can help you to create more dynamic and interesting compositions.
Here are a few reasons why you should aim to be loose when painting in oil and acrylic:
1. It Encourages Experimentation: By letting go of your need for control, you open yourself up to new and unexpected possibilities. Looser brushwork can lead to spontaneous marks and textures that can add interest and depth to your work.
2. It Improves Your Spontaneity: When you are loose, you are able to work more quickly and instinctively, allowing you to respond to the needs of the painting as it evolves. This spontaneous approach can help you to capture the essence of your subject and create more dynamic compositions.
3. It Increases Your Confidence: When you let go of your need for control, you can focus on the process of painting and the joy of creating. This shift in mindset can help you to become more confident in your abilities and enjoy the process of painting more fully.
4. It Adds Energy to Your Work: Looser brushwork creates a sense of movement and energy in your paintings that can be difficult to achieve with tight, controlled brushstrokes. By incorporating loose brushwork into your paintings, you can add a sense of life and vitality to your work that will engage and captivate your viewers.
In conclusion, loosening up when painting in oil and acrylic can bring many benefits to your work. It encourages experimentation, improves your spontaneity, increases your confidence, and adds energy to your paintings. So, go ahead and try to let go of your need for control, and see what interesting and unexpected things can happen in your artwork.
Mixing skin tones for painting can be achieved through the use of a limited color palette, such as the primary colors (red, yellow, and blue) and a few additional colors. Here is one way to mix skin tones using a limited palette:
Begin by mixing together equal parts of cadmium red, yellow ochre, and titanium white to create a basic peach tone.
Adjust the color by adding more red to create warmer skin tones, or more yellow to create cooler skin tones.
To create darker skin tones, mix in a small amount of ultramarine blue or burnt sienna.
To create lighter skin tones, add more white to the mixture.
Experiment with different ratios and combinations of these colors to create a range of skin tones.
It’s important to remember that skin tones can vary greatly, so it may take some practice to get the right mix for your particular subject. It may also be helpful to have a reference image to work from.
Using Burnt Sienna as a base color:
To mix skin tones using burnt sienna as the base color, you can follow these steps:
Start by mixing a small amount of burnt sienna with white to create a light flesh tone. This will be your base color.
To create a medium flesh tone, mix in a small amount of cadmium yellow medium or cadmium red to the base color.
To create a darker flesh tone, mix in a small amount of ultramarine blue or purple to the base color.
To create highlights, mix in more white to the base color. To create shadows, mix in more burnt sienna or a small amount of black.
Adjust the colors as needed until you achieve the desired skin tone. Remember to start with a small amount of color and gradually add more until you get the desired shade.
It’s a good idea to make a small sample of the skin tone before you start painting, so you can see how the color looks and make any necessary adjustments. You can also refer to photographs or live models to get an idea of the natural skin tones and how they are affected by light and shadow.
To mix skin tones for highlights:
To create highlights when painting skin tones, you can mix in white or a pale version of the base skin tone.
To create a more subtle highlight, you can mix a small amount of white into the base skin tone. This will give the highlight a slightly lighter and more transparent quality.
To create a more pronounced highlight, you can mix a larger amount of white into the base skin tone. This will give the highlight a brighter and more opaque quality.
You can also mix in other colors to create different effects. For example, you can mix in a small amount of yellow or pink to create a warmer highlight, or you can mix in a small amount of blue or purple to create a cooler highlight.
Remember to blend the highlight smoothly into the surrounding skin, and to pay attention to the way the light falls on the skin to create a realistic effect. It’s a good idea to start with a small amount of color and gradually add more until you achieve the desired highlight. You can also refer to photographs or live models to get an idea of the natural skin tones and how they are affected by light and shadow.
To mix skin tones for shadows, you can follow these steps:
Begin with the base skin tone that you have already mixed. This will typically be a blend of red, yellow, and white.
To create a shadowed area, you will need to add a darker color to the base skin tone. One option is to mix in a small amount of ultramarine blue or burnt sienna.
Adjust the darkness of the shadow by adding more of the darker color or by adding black. Be sure to add the darker color gradually and mix it well to avoid creating a harsh, unnatural-looking shadow.
Test the shadow color on a separate palette or piece of paper before applying it to your artwork to ensure that it is the desired shade.
When applying the shadow color to your artwork, use a thin, flat brush to create a smooth, even layer. Blend the edges of the shadow with the surrounding skin tone to create a seamless transition.
Remember to consider the direction of the light source and the natural contours of the face when placing shadows, as this will help to create a more realistic and three-dimensional effect.
Are skin tones gray in the shadows?
Skin tones are generally not gray in shadows when painting. While shadows can often appear gray in photographs, in reality they are often a much warmer color, especially when the light source is sunlight.
The color of shadows on skin can vary depending on the color of the light source and the skin tone of the subject. Shadows on pale skin may appear bluish or violet, while shadows on darker skin may appear brown or reddish.
To create the illusion of realistic shadows on skin, you should use colors that are slightly cooler than the base skin tone and blend them smoothly into the surrounding skin. You can also use a small amount of the complementary color of the base skin tone to create contrast and add depth to the shadow areas.
It’s a good idea to refer to photographs or live models to get an idea of the natural skin tones and how they are affected by light and shadow. This will help you to create a more realistic and convincing painting.
Should we be mad about a banana being taped to a wall selling for $120,000? Maybe.
Maybe there are lessons to be learned here as artists. I heard a lot of people, myself included, saying “Who would be so stupid to spend $120,000 on a banana?” Maybe they aren’t “stupid” at all. Maybe they are genius. Why, how can they be a genius?
Well, the buyer didn’t actually “buy” the banana, they bought the concept, and the certificate of authenticity. Look at the viral nature of what happened with the banana. Who hasn’t heard about it? Is that worth $120,000 in publicity and marketing? For both the artist and the buyer? They can now print that image on t-shirts if they want and make a boatload of money off the viral publicity. Or maybe they want to sell some prints, or maybe they just want to get their name out there to the world. Companies spend way more money than $120,000 to get their name out to millions. They spend millions to reach millions.
So what can we learn from this “gimmick” as artists. And it is a gimmick by the way. A lot of art is about gimmickry.
Lesson 1 – Brand is important. Creating a brand is a large part of what makes an artist successful. Sometimes it’s based on talent, sometimes it’s based on a theme, sometimes personality, sometimes gimmickry, and sometimes it’s just about how attractive you are. The art world can be shallow, but don’t let that bother you if you want to sell your work. Doesn’t really matter what it is, you need a brand.
Lesson 2 – Marketing is powerful. How you market yourself, and what you do to get yourself seen is important. Do you take risks? Are you too conservative? Do you cower at the thought of constant self promotion? If you aren’t hustling with marketing you won’t stay relevant. Why? Social media is why. Our attention span is about 5 minutes long now. If you aren’t in sight, you aren’t in mind. That’s just how it goes. Banana man will be forgotten in a month or so, but if they capitalize on the publicity, they can stay in the limelight for a long time. The banana was the key to the city, now they city has to be managed. You gotta put yourself out there, but you have to do it right. You can’t just flail. Thoughtful marketing is key to becoming a known artist.
Lesson 3 – Talent isn’t always the key to success. Your personality can play a bigger part of how successful you are. If you have a big personality you can play it up, if you are just a kind, generous person you need to show that. People connect with people as well as their art. So there are two parts to the connection you have to think about. How you present yourself will always be just about as important as your art. If you are extremely talented you might not have to worry about it as much. But you can get by with less talent and experience if you can connect with people.
Lesson 4 – There is a lot of money out there for art. Don’t get discouraged if you aren’t selling well yet. You just have to work on the things above. There is plenty of money out there, it’s not running out. $120,000 for a banana proves that. You just have to figure out your brand, your marketing and your connection. Then you can get the ball rolling.
So, we don’t have to be mad about the banana. We just have to accept that the art world is weird, and if we can figure out how to be weird with it we will be successful.
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Color selection can be daunting, so when I sit down to paint something I try to figure out how I can make it as simple as possible. Even when painting from a photo or other reference you don’t necessarily have to try and copy the photo. Sometimes you can look at the photo to get an idea and then select your own colors and use the reference for shape, value and structure.
Before I digress too much I’m going to jump right into the colors I used for this painting so I don’t bore you all.
What I wanted to do with this painting is keep it ethereal (hence the title Ethereal Passing). I wanted the colors to be colorful and vibrant yet subtle. I decided I wanted to do something in an analogous color scheme. Analogous color schemes are taking colors that are side by side on the color wheel. But think a real big color wheel with lots of shades, not the simple one you’re used to seeing. So for this painting I wanted something that went from Crimson/Pink to Purple, to Blue. So when you look at the clouds I used Alizarin for the pink, amethyst for the purple, and prussian blue and titanium for the blue. I slowly shifted the colors together to create the bold colorful look in the highlighted/detailed portion of the cloud.
I find that analogous schemes work so well in paintings. They just always seem to look good and smooth, and that’s because the colors are all side by side on the color wheel, so the harmony is very natural.
Another thing I like to do within my analogous color schemes is compliment some of the colors. So I created the orange glow beneath the clouds with cadmium orange. This compliments the blues in the clouds. I didn’t want it to be super bold though, because cadmium out of the tube is vibrant. I added titanium white to it to reduce the saturation and keep it within that ethereal feel. I then incorporated little tiny bits of that in the clouds, because when you add more and more white to cadmium orange it actually pushes it toward the yellow scale.
So by making it a little more yellowish it compliments the amethyst and alizarin. It’s a close compliment rather than a direct compliment.
The really big key in this painting is all the grays. How do you make the right gray to fit the painting? I used prussian blue mixed with orange. Compliments mixed together tend to create gray or brown, and if you keep the mixture a little leaning more toward blue you get more gray. That was the main mixture for grays, but I’d add little bits of alizarin and amethyst to that gray here and there to create more harmony throughout the colors.
So to recap, I created an analogous scheme with alizarin, amethyst and prussian blue. Then I complimented the entire thing with tiny bits of cadmium orange and cadmium orange mixed with titanium white (to make it lean toward ethereal white/yellow).
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Join me in Maumee, Ohio as I do a free painting demonstration and have a display of my work at American Frame Showroom. November 3rd starting at 3PM.
I’ve been getting ready to display some of my work at the American Frame gallery in a few weeks. I’ve been going back and forth between some of my older work and some of my new stuff, debating on what to send them.
I’m also trying to bang out a big painting a day. Over the past two days I’ve done two really large cloudscapes. The one you see here took me about 90 minutes to complete from start to finish. It’s a 30 X 48 inch canvas. This is probably my favorite painting I’m sending for the show.
One thing that I’ve seen over years of doing workshops is that we have a tendency to over-paint. In the workshop setting that is easy to do because everyone paints at a different pace and you don’t want to just sit there and not paint. So in that setting it’s different. Plus I’m there to tell you to stop it! 🙂
In your home setting it’s hard to tell when a painting is done. What I used to tell people is that “it’s done when you feel happy looking at it.” But after thinking about this I’m going to give you all a more technical answer.
The painting is done when you’ve created a variety of values, subtle color variations, good contrast, and mood. So what I suggest, is asking yourself these questions every hour or so while you paint. Because it might be “done” before you thought it was.
1. How many values do I see in this painting? Do I cover a good range or am I stuck in midtone value purgatory? If you have a good value range you may be closer to done than you thought. It might be a matter of refinement than adding new paint layers.
2. Do I have good contrast? Contrast creates depth, light, shadow, and 3 dimension. This kind of goes along with values, but contrast can also be created with color (warm/cool combos etc). A shot of reddish or purplish can make green pop and vice versa. Sometimes adding in subtle compliments can really spruce up your contrast. Don’t miss out on this week’s special priced lessons! 50% off these two great painting lessons. Click the images to go to the lesson page.
Cloudy Days and Waterways – Oil painting lesson
Blue Heron – Acrylic Painting Lesson
3. Does my painting have big voids? Empty space can be powerful, or it can be distracting. Balance in a painting doesn’t mean symmetry. Big open spaces, elements all on the same plane, lack of angles can hurt your composition. If you leave empty space, make sure it is to aid in the composition of the painting (I’ll talk about this more on another day.)
4. What is “fill in blank” missing? Does your tree need highlights? Shadow? Does your apple have reflected light? Take a look at the important elements and ask what’s missing. If you can’t think of anything it’s probably done.
If you don’t stop to analyze your painting every so often then you may have missed the point at which it was done, and you end up over-painting it.
I like going to art museums so I can look at paintings really close up. I like to see all the brush strokes. I want to see how much effort was put into a highlight or a shadow, or a transitional color that connects the two. Usually I’m surprised by what I see.
Have you ever painted and thought, “I don’t really like this.” Then you leave the room and come back and when you see it you think, “actually that looks pretty good.” This happens because we are painting the canvas at a distance that is closer than viewing distance.
When you go to museums you can quickly tell who the artists are. They are the ones getting yelled at by security to “Please step back from the painting!” Artists like to see how brush strokes were put together, but the average viewer stands 6 to 8 feet away from the painting when looking at it.
What happens when we step back from the painting? Well, our brushstrokes melt together, we don’t see the canvas ‘bumps’, we see the painting as a whole, and we can see the overall contrast much better. If you’ve taken some of my online painting lessons you’ll hear me roll back in my chair pretty often. The reason I do this is so I can get to viewing distance and see the painting as a whole. That helps me determine how much more effort I need to put in to render an object.
After doing workshops for the past 4 years I’ve noticed that a lot of people don’t get up and step back enough. If you are too close to your painting all the time you start to overthink the brushstrokes because you are thinking too much in great detail. Details appear more clearly at a distance. That’s why Sargent was able to create masterful works with just quick single brush strokes.
If you focus more on value, color and proportion your paintings will be great, no matter the brushstrokes. There’s a reason why impressionist paintings are so popular. The further you step back from them, the more real they appear (with masterful colors and movement).
So try to stop overthinking your brushstrokes and be free. Take your time when you paint, but don’t dwell. Dwelling is the land of over painting. Step back and observe your colors and values. The way you apply the paint is your own style. It’s great to know how to approach brush strokes, but to try to paint every single detail with a tiny brush can just make your painting look plain.
Get a chair that rolls, and start rolling back and loving your paintings! 🙂
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The Bend Between Trees – Acrylic painting lesson. Click the image above for more info!
Edge of Calm Waters – Acrylic painting lesson. Click the image above for more info!
What did we find? Well, we found that a couple combinations will work great for creating a deep blue sky. But our closest match was Ultramarine Blue and Raw Umber and White. Tune in next week for another episode of What’s That Color, where I’ll tackle the color of something in the world!
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