Direct painting over a glaze layer?

[Mai Ly]

Hello Everyone,

I have been experimenting with some glazing techniques (it meant a Vermeer style!), but got really messed up because of the medium (Galkyd) dried up too quickly, and I am a 'slow' painter! I am going to start again because the surface is too bumpy (I had trouble with the underpainting using the Galkyd medium above) smoothly) for a glazing to work smoothly. However, I would like to save this painting by applying the direct method on top of it. (It really does not look too bad, but is rather lumpy for a the glazing to look good).

My questions are:

1. What I am going to do is to paint directly on the painting with a 'fatter' medium. Maybe the same one that I have been using for this painting, i.e. Galkyd with added refined linseed oil or stand oil. Can I use Neo Megilp instead?Will this prevent the painting from cracking?

2. Also, how do I 'erase' a color that I do not want after a few layer of glazing have been applied (on top of a grissaile underpainting),
without having to scrape it all out (the way that I would normally do)? I don't know how it would look with the rest of the painting, if I have to scrape it all out, including the underpainting, and then apply fresh paint on it. Has anyone tried fixing something like this before?

I tried to search for similar messages but could not find any that suggest fixing a badly glazed painting!

Any suggestions to help me saving this painting will be much appreciated!

Sincerely,
Mai

[Michael Georges]

Hello Mai:

Galkyd dries generally overnight or in about 2 days depending on how much you use and the particular color.

If you want to paint direct over a glazed passage, I might recommend that you consider wet sanding the surface first with a 400 or 600 grit automotive sandpaper (this is the black stuff). That will help to remove the bumps and it will abraid the surface which will help with layer adhesion.

As for painting over a glaze that you did not want, you could certainly scrape or sand it out. You could also paint direct over the glaze and just obliterate it. In a hundred years or so, as the top layers turn more translucent, there "may" be a slight tinting of the color from the glaze below -again I say "may" as it depends on the color intensity of the glaze and the composition of the top layers as to how translucent they will become over time.

Hope that helps.

[Mai Ly]

Thank you so much Michael for your help! I will do as you suggested. I think I will sand the unwanted color out, to be on the safe side, rather than painting on top of it.

I did my underpainting over several sessions. The first was just pure mixed paint (raw umber + white). All the sessions after that, I would brush a thin layer of Galkyd over the area that I was going to paint, before painting over it (raw umber + white + medium). However, my problem was that the area where I brushed the medium on got so tacky, and I hardly have time to put the paint on properly. I don't know where I have gone wrong. The medium that I used to use for my direct painting was 1/3 stand oil + 2/3 turpentine and it worked really well with my painting speed.

Also, the reason why I want to paint over it is because I don't know if I can continue glazing it (if I get rid of the bumpy parts like above). Is there a way to continue glazing the painting, or my only choice right now is direct painting over it?

Thank you Michael for your time replying my post.

Mai

[Michael Georges]

Mai:

Once you sand it, you will have to make a determination as to whether the underpainting is still showing through cleanly enough to warrant giving it another try with a glaze. You may end up having to paint opaquely over it simply because the underpaint is obscured.

It sounds like you are having a bit of trouble adjusting to the Galkyd. You may want to evaluate how you work and choose a medium that reflects your working style and preferences. Remember that a medium is only there to get the paint into a consistency for working, so use the medium somewhat sparingly so you have more pigment than oil.

[Mai Ly]

Thank you so much Michael!

Mai