Glazing

Glazing is an oil painting technique in which thin, transparent layers of colour, bound in a slow-drying medium, are applied successively over an opaque underpainting to build luminous depth, subtle colour shifts, and a glowing sense of light seeming to emanate from within the paint itself. Because each glaze must dry before the next is applied, the technique is slow and cumulative — the Flemish and Venetian old masters used it to achieve the jewel-like saturation and soft transitions seen in flesh tones and drapery. Glazing differs fundamentally from direct, opaque paint application: light passes through the translucent layers and reflects back off the lighter ground beneath, producing an optical richness that cannot be mixed on the palette in a single stroke.