Glazing help
 

I mixed up glaze I wanted to lay over an area that needed it, only to have it pool up like water over oil? I used stand oil, and turps and just a dap of paint. Good WN "Light Red"

This is my first real glaze application. I made another with Vandyke brown, to tone down some ground and the same thing happened. What am I doing Wrong.

Help....Save My painting...

ReNae

Interesting. Could you please elaborate a little. By turps can I correctly assume you mean pure spirits? What was the area you were laying it over? An underpainting? Another glaze layer? What was the ground you were using? Lastly, a dab of paint can mean quite different amounts depending upon the person. What was the ratio used of stand to turp?

You mentioned this was your

Cut an onion in half and rub the cut half over your dry painted surface...then try the glaze and it should go on smoothly.

I'm NOT kidding!

True ... and ..
 

She can use garlic as well but it is rare to have to resort to this. I would like to help her get to the root of her problem, therefore my questions to her.

Interesting...I never heard of garlic being used.

Anyhow my glazes sometimes "bead up" too...and for no apparent reason because my studio methods and materials don't vary much.

I figure that it might just be one of those days when Mercury goes retrograde or something equally capricious :D

Seriously, I really would like to know the reason for this sometimes annoying occurence.

Onions anyone
 

What a wonderful remedy. I'm not even going to ask, HOW you happened to discover this truth!!! I'm sure it's an age old thing.

Yes mineral spirits, Mona Lisa Brand. WN Stand Oil. Just engough WN light red to make jello consistancy and color. This was over dry, layer of paint with Titanium white mixed with several other tints to appear opalescent. I'm thinking it wasn't quite dry enough, there was some cad lemon in there which dries slower that all others.

Anyway. I'm trying the Onion when I get home tonight. I can't wait.

Yes indeed, a strong onion can take our breath away...but seriously, make sure that your surface is dry before doing the onion thing...

Maybe this will explain
 

The principal reason I can see for your application beading up is most probably due to the fact that you are using too much oil. When dry, this creates a very slippery surface. Again if trying to overlay with oil, assuming you are using the same medium, what allows this layer to adhere to the previous? By incorporating a resin or balsam into your medium, you have added a natural adhesive. (no adhesive then you must compensate with the garlic to ensure the next layer will bind to the previous). I believe all mediums should have a resin or balsam component. Dammar is probably the most popular resin in use today. It

Too much oil
 

Thank you both. I've learned so much from this site. When I decided to dive into oils after doing pastels for quite awhile, I followed the instructions on an antique book printed in 1958 written by Adrian Hill for the basic and then found Harold Speed's notes on mediums. No mention of the problems I've been having.

I tried the onion rub today. Worked like a charm. Then just for grins, on another area, I used some of my brand new bottle of Liquin, (thanks Karen) this worked also. (I really like the feel if this )

I will be much more mindfull of the amount of oil I use from now on. The wonderful thick stand oil was too hard to resist. It held it's body even with the mixture I mentioned above.

Thank you both again. I look forward to my next "Hail Mary"

In the mean time, no more painting today our Saturday, The winter Park art festival is underway. It's a big deal here in Orlando. Wish you were here.

ReNae

Dear Renae,

The garlic and the onion work, as do raw potatoes. However, for what it's worth, I would prefer not to use them other than to help a final varnish stick to the painting evenly.

From what I've been able to deduce out of the correspondence thus far, it could be that (as Raffaele has mentioned) you may have too much oil. I would actually suggest that, instead, your medium to pigment ratio is a bit too high, and that possibly you are applying the glaze too thickly. A glaze simply means a transparent darker tone layed over a lighter preparation. It need not be thick, but it does need to be at least the richest layer of paint. I would not recommend any turps at all. This weakens the paint layer which is already underbound and thin (or, at least, it should be) and is therefore already weak, too. I don't know about the balsams, though. Perhaps they're fine. Many people, myself included, recommend that final glazing be done with only oil as the medium. The paint is mixed to a house paint-like consistency, and then the brush is wiped once it is loaded with the paint. This makes for a rich paint, but not too much. In effect, you can practically do glazing as "dry-brush" technique this way. It is my preferred method and it seems to be more controllable than a too-thickly-applied layer. However, each requires some practice, and I'm sure you'll figure out what you like best. Give the "drier-brush" method a try. One of the best, old-fashioned ways of applying toning glazes (and scumbles, for that matter) is with one's fingers. I believe it was Frans Hals who was famous for doing this.

Hope it helps.

Juan