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Joseph,
There's plenty of discussion on the "how" of glazing, but also be aware of the "why' -- and the "why not" -- of the technique. It's kind of a seductive subject, this notion of building up colour or altering tone with thin applications of nearly transparent pigments.
Don't fall into the trap of thinking of glazing as a way to "make up" for not getting colour and tone correct in the first place. An underbaked cake with rancid frosting will still be a big disappointment at the party, no matter how pretty the decorations stuck on at the end. Glazing is used to enhance an already sound passage or painting, not to repair a poor construction.
Be aware that a glaze is, after all, chemically accomplished by compromising the integrity of the paint, introducing an extreme quantity of a dispersant (oil, alkyd, etc.) into the paint to thin out the pigment to a transparent concentration. This tenuously bound pigment is applied in an extremely thin layer, which will not surprisingly be weaker and more brittle than thicker paint applications. And because it's sitting right on top of the painting, a subsequent cleaning to remove old varnish could, even with care, lift some areas of that thin glaze.
So yes, by all means get into the books and the websites and learn as much as you can about it, but use it sparingly and deliberately for a specifically intended purpose. Indiscriminately applied, a glaze can make a passage look muddy or dirty rather than luminous.
Steven
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