Watercolour Overglazes
John Lovett shares his insights on this impactful painting technique
John Lovett shares his insights on this impactful painting technique
Overglazing is a useful technique to “tighten up” and simplify a painting. Overglazes can be applied at any time during the painting process or as a final adjustment to increase color harmony and unity. Generally the process requires mixing a large puddle of clean, transparent pigment and applying it quickly and thoroughly (leaving no gaps) to a selected portion of the dry painting. As soon as the glaze has been applied, a clean, damp brush is used to soften and grade out any visible edges of the glaze. Overglazes can be a simple, single application or an overlapping series of layered glazes.
Tips for Applying Overglazes
» Make sure your painting is thoroughly dry before applying the glaze. Watercolor sets as
it dries out—if the overglaze goes on too early, it will disturb the painting underneath. » Don’t be too vigorous with your application of the overglaze. Mix plenty of paint then apply it with a minimum of soft gentle strokes. Once the required area is completely and evenly covered, quickly wash out your brush in clean water, dry it slightly then run it along the edge of the glaze to soften it.
» A soft hake brush can be used to soften and even out the glaze if necessary.
» The best brush is the one you generally use for washes. Mops are good, large flat
Taklons work well, as do long haired soft bristle brushes. A mixture of phthalo blue, phthalo green and a small amount of permanent rose was applied in a wide band down the left side of this painting. The glaze was carried across the foreground land mass and, in a thin band, up the righthand side. This overglaze tightened the color harmony and concentrated attention on the focal area of the river. In this painting an overglaze of cool grey was applied to both sides of the painting. These bands of overglaze compress the contrast at either side of the painting, giving more impact to the focal area.
This painting had an over glaze of phthalo green applied to the bottom and both sides, leaving contrast in the focal area. A final over glaze of phthalo blue was applied to the top right-hand corner to add variety.
An overglaze of blue/violet (mixed from phthalo blue and permanent rose) was painted across the water and half way up either side of this painting. This not only helps tie the buildings to the water, but also allows the focal area of the buildings to dominate.
After everything was thoroughly dry, an overglaze of permanent rose was applied to the top region of sky and down either side. Again, this overglaze was allowed to dry thoroughly before a gesso overglaze was applied to the sky and left-hand corner.
This layering of glazes builds up the soft, dreamy atmosphere of early morning Venice.
In this example, a phthalo green/phthalo blue mixture was used to over glaze the foreground water and part of the buildings at either side, tying the water to the rest of the painting.
An overglaze of gesso was applied to the area at the top of the painting where the violet would eventually go. This overglaze served to reduce detail and put light into that area.
After everything had dried out thoroughly, an over glaze of violet mixed from permanent rose and cobalt blue was placed over the gesso.
The final over glaze was an opaque white gouache into the pale area of the sky. The final job was to reinstate some of the detail lost to the gesso. This was done simply with a charcoal pencil.