Glazing Clouds

 After glazing the sky with yellow (middle) and blue (top), and the clouds with yellow and pink

 After further scumbling over the pink with yellow and white

Initial lay in with opaque paint

This series shows my attempt to use glazing to get the "glow" of a cumulus cloud. The bottom image shows an initial painting with opaque paint. My first attempt at the glow (not shown) wasn't successful, because the cumulus part of the cloud wasn't light enough. I went over that with white paint, let it dry and tried again. The result was the top photo. I liked it, but the pink at the bottom of the cumulus cloud seemed a bit much, so I scumbled over that with yellow and white. Glazing was done with pure color and medium, brushed on, then rubbed with a lint free cloth. For scumbling, a little white was added to the process.

Yellow = indian yellow
Pink = quinacridone red
blue = combination of untramarine and pthalo blue with white

Glazing and scumbling

 

Before: wet on wet painting with dark clouds and graded sky

After: glazing to strengthen the sky colors, and darken the bottom of the clouds, and scumbling to lighten the clouds

In the Deborah Paris Painted Sky class we are learning the indirect painting techniques of glazing and scumbling. Usually I paint in a direct manner, i.e., wet-on-wet, also called a la prima. This is the most common approach to plein air painting. In indirect painting, multiple layers of paint are used. When some of the layers are transparent or semi-transparent, you can get some wonderful effects. Here's a post by Deborah that explains how it works.

Glazing uses transparent paint layers. Scumbling is similar, but a little white or light value color is added to the glaze. Glazing darkens the existing surface, scumbling lightens it. I'm finding it very difficult to take realistic before and after pictures of this, believe me, the pink in the bottom painting is darker than that in the top painting! And, I think I'm doing the glazing properly, but my scumbling needs work.

Stratus Clouds

 Stratus Clouds

5"x7" oil on linen panel

Value study for Stratus Clouds

This is my final study of cloud types for the Painted Sky class. On to glazing and scumbling next.