Do you know the art term for glazing with an opaque color? It's something I often do, though I certainly don't often throw the word "velatura" into a conversation. Perhaps I ought to next time someone asks me how I created the mist in a painting to see what they say next...?
The seascape shown here (along with a small detail) is a painting where I obliterated much of the color of the hills and sea with a velantura of titanium white. I diluted the white acrylic with water and glazing medium, then worked fast with a big brush. As titanium white is such an opaque pigment the effect is dramatic and immediate. I always keep a damp cloth to hand in case it's too much!It's a technique that fits well with the current painting project. And remember you can use pressure to spread the opaque paint thinly across a surface, you don't need to thin the color with a glazing medium or oil/turps.
"Seascape No.9" © Marion Boddy-Evans. 46 x 122cm. Photo licensed to About.com, Inc
Comments
Beautiful!
Thank you! This is one of the reason’s I love art so much, and it’s because there is always something to new to learn. This is a new term for me too. Thanks again.
AceJr.
Thanks Marion. This is a term I have never heard before. I hope that I will remember it.
the way to make any glaze into a velatura is to simply add some white. the word comes from the italian for “veil.”
here is a step by step oil portrait where i used this technique:
http://ccsears.blogspot.com/2009/02/blog-post.html
It’s another reason to familiarize oneself with whether a color is transparent or opaque.
Ever try zinc white for velatura? It is a little more transparent than titanium, but still fairly opaque. I am finding that I am using it more and more. It’s great to adjust and at the same time soften the edge between a white and another color too!
@Ed > I have used zinc white, which as you say is more transparent. I find though that because I don’t use as much, I tend to get better results with titanium white because I’m more used to judging X paint + Y water/glazing medium = Z result.
I never heard this word before, but use this technique almost in every picture to create aerial perspective. I think I found it somewhere in the Marion’s lessons. Sometimes I add just a drop of another color, but I like better Titanium White. I Also use for velatura … dirty water from the jag where I put brushes when painting (for example in a large seascape here http://picturesbynatalyakalugina.weebly.com/seascapes.html).
When I look at some paintings of Turner and Monet, I wonder whether they didn’t use scumbling and velatura.
http://www.artilim.com/artist/turner-joseph-mallord-william/landscape-with-a-river-and-a-bay-in-the-distance/
http://www.artilim.com/artist/monet-claude/charing-cross-bridge-the-thames/
http://www.artilim.com/artist/turner-joseph-mallord-william/sun-setting-over-a-lake/
http://www.artilim.com/artist/monet-claude/houses-at-falaise-in-the-fog/