Glazes and Scumbles in Your Landscape Painting - Tutorial

Cool or warm, darken or lighten areas in your painting without losing your color and value variations.
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[@nicholasgale3400]

useful techniques - but i believe both of these techniques you have shown are glazes - one to darken the other to lighten. Scumbling, i believe, is applying a light textured 'dusting' of paint with an underloaded bursh over a previous dry color to modify the underlying color

[@philstarke.artist]

Thanks for sharing!

[@SomethingImpromptu]

This is correct. Scumbling isn’t a glaze at all. A glaze is a very smooth, transparent, typically thin overlay of color as shown. Whereas, scumbling can be done with as opaque a color as you want, & can be done thickly or thinly (underloading the brush is a good way to achieve it, but I think you can achieve it with a fairly significant brush load too with the proper technique); the important, defining thing is that you’re using the brush at a very shallow angle (basically parallel to the paper or close to it), very gently, just skimming the surface, so that leaves broken coverage with gaps in between where the underlying color can be seen through. If it’s very opaque, you may not be able to see the underlying color at all in the spots where the paint makes marks, but a scumble will leave a kind of randomized texture of marks with gaps between where it leaves no mark whatsoever, & it’s from those gaps (rather than transparency- though it’s okay if it is additionally also a bit transparent) that you get the underlying color showing through. If you just go to a search engine & look for example images there are surely plenty.

[@SomethingImpromptu]

Nice painting, & good demonstration of glazing. I know this is beside the point of the video, but I just want to point out for the benefit of any new painters watching: Ultramarine blue is a very good option for a primary blue (especially if you want a warm blue, which can mix vibrant, high-chroma purples & more naturalistic, subtle, more muted greens which are good for landscapes). The only downside I’m aware of is that ultramarine is one of the pigments which, although it’s quite lightfast, is extremely sensitive to even pretty mild acids. So for example, even acidic pollution in the atmosphere can cause it to fade. So, if you’re in a big city with bad air pollution, you probably want to either take extra steps to protect a painting which uses it, or you should consider choosing an alternative for the more serious works which you want to have a long lifespan… & obviously don’t spill anything acidic on it or use it in combination with acidic materials. For example wood panels in general are not ideal for oil painting; they often contain tannins &/or other acids that can leech out over time & damage the oil paint films (I use wood panels exclusively for acrylics, which are much less vulnerable to this damage over time). So using ultramarine blue on a wood panel would probably be especially inadvisable, though I don’t know for sure how long it would take for the acids to seep through to the surface layer- it might be more of a problem for paint adhesion across the board. Anyway, as long as care is taken to protect a painting from acid exposure, ultramarine blue is a great pigment. Note: I think that all the issues with lightfastness & acid vulnerability are probably considerably more severe in watercolors, whereas oil & acrylic binders at least offer some modicum of protection. However, that said, they’re still issues & should be considered if you’re trying to make salable, professional paintings that will last a good long time as they should. On the one hand, using cheaper, less lightfast materials for practice is fine as a student, & if that’s what you can afford then by all means, paint! And if you’re only doing it for fun, or to decorate your own home, or whatever, it’s totally your business what you see fit to use. But on the other hand, after a certain point, it’s really beneficial & important to start practicing with the pigments that you’ll actually be using for your serious artworks. So, if you’re trying to sell paintings, if you’re trying to make something that will stand the rest of time & last, then after your beginner period I do think it’s worth starting to practice with good, lightfast pigments that you’ll be using in the future, even if you practice with cheaper “student grade” brands/lines of them (for example, there are some brands where you can get tubes of very, very passable , “basically artist grade for student grade prices” paints, including some really nice pigments, quite affordably; I’ve really liked the Turner watercolor paints, & none of them run more than about $7-9 for a tube which will last a pretty long time (compared to the big professional grade brands like Daniel Smith where a similar tube would probably cost more like $12-18). Some student-grade oil paints are also quite decent, & given how insanely expensive professional/artist grade oil paints can get ($30+ for a pretty small tube of a fancy pigment like cadmiums or cobalts), there’s no shame in using a good student grade brand for as long as you need to to get good enough to sell paintings & make back some of the money you’re spending on supplies. Anyway, Indian Yellow is also a color I love, personally. The problem is that the original Indian Yellow pigment that was used for centuries is a bit of a mystery. The most prominent theory is that it was produced by feeding cattle a diet of mango leaves, & extracting pigment compounds from their urine afterwards, but because animal sources are ethically questionable, that’s not generally done today. Instead, pigment/paint manufacturers have been trying all kinds of different pigment combinations & processes to try to simulate the same effect as the original Indian Yellow, so basically all the “Indian Yellow” on the market is hues/replacement formulas imitating the original color concept… And, because of that lack of uniformity, some of them are a lot better than others, in terms of how much of that Indian Yellow “glow” they capture (it’s supposed to be kind of luminous, like Quin Gold or Nickel Azo Yellow, but with a yellow-orange hue more similar to Cad Yellow Deep or Azo Yellow Deep), as well as lightfastness & other properties. So make sure you choose one which uses pigments with good lightfastness (& I’m sure you can find discussion online about which pigments best replicate Indian Yellow). The worst I’ve tried, I think, was Daler Rowney’s acrylic ink, PY1:1, which likely suffers the same awful lightfastness as PY1 & is not suitable for artist-grade paints… The others have been passable, but I haven’t found one that blows me away yet. If you can find a good hue & you want that kind of glowy, translucent yellow (it can be wonderful for glazing to give the impression of sunset casting orange light over a landscape), it can also mix nice realistic, warm greens as well as rich, saturated oranges (in combination with a warm red). But this is what I really wanted to point out: Alizarin Crimson is a much bigger problem paint than Ultramarine Blue (a little acid vulnerability you can work around by just sealing the painting, or what have you). And it could be that OP is using a Alizarin Crimson hue, or a Permanent Alizarin Crimson, & just SAID “Alizarin Crimson…” But it’s worth pointing out so people don’t use it for a long time without realizing: Alizarin Crimson, beautiful as it is, is an infamously fugitive (extremely poor lightfastness) pigment. It’s probably not going to be an issue for most people for much longer, because it was just discontinued & will probably go largely extinct from circulation in the semi-near future… Though honestly, just because of how fugitive it is, someone who is seriously seeking it out will probably be able to get it for a long time, for a price, because I doubt people will use up the last tubes too quickly (with some really irreplaceable pigments, they to out of production & people snatch the last ones up like a wildfire, but in this case, there are actually already some really good alternative options available, & professional painters had already mostly abandoned genuine Alizarin Crimson because of its poor lightfastness- so it’ll probably remain a curiosity that devotees who just love the original pigment will continue to buy on eBay or Etsy or wherever for a long time to come). The best replacement seems to be Anthraquinone Red (which has a similar kind of smokey, slightly muted, deep cool red hue), PR177, though i know some brands have tried PR176, Benzimidazolone Carmine, or PR264, Pyrrol Red Rubine. I have no idea how these options hold up. I LIKE the normal Pyrrol Red, & it has great lightfastness, but I don’t know how similar the Rubine (ruby red) version is to Alizarin Crimson. And I like the more lightfast Benzimidazolone Yellow pigment PY154 (they mostly have great lightfastness with one or two exceptions), but I can’t find lightfastness data on this one in particular & haven’t used a non-yellow benzimidazolone color. At any rate, they’re probably all more lightfast than Alizarin Crimson itself (they better be if they’re being sold as “permanent” alternatives). But a lover of Alizarin may wish to try a couple different options to see what best replaces it. Anthraquinone Red sounds like a good bet from what I’ve heard, & I love Anthraquinone Blue for a similarly smokey, muted dark blue. Anyway, hope that is helpful for anyone. Personally, I love a split complimentary palette (having a warm & a cool yellow, a warm & a cool blue, & a warm & a cool red- plus white & black if you’re using oil or acrylic paint); it allows you to mix basically any color you want while still maintaining a pretty limited palette. But there is also a benefit to sticking with just one of each primary if you don’t NEED the entire color spectrum for a given painting, because it helps maintain color harmony when there are only 3 different colored pigments interacting to blend the others. It’s a trade off, & I get the appeal of a normal primary palette for a relatively straight forward, figurative painting like this. But yeah; people should just do their research about every pigment they use. Get to know them & make sure your work is good & lightfast & protected from whatever elements it may be exposed to. Protective varnishes & finishes, as well as UV-protectant glass on the frame, can help protect or & extend the work’s lifespan, but the considerations start from picking out the surface, ground, medium, & pigments you’ll be using (& in oil painting, making sure you apply the right materials in the right way to ensure a strong paint film). ✌️

[@Wendy8888]

Great video!

[@philstarke.artist]

Thanks!

[@sbuzz7279]

This technique has my background trees as far back as they should be. Super important!

[@philstarke.artist]

Glad it was helpful!

[@Newlinjim]

Good job,also you have the voice of a born teacher.

[@philstarke.artist]

Thanks

[@TakomaChris]

You’re the best teacher

[@philstarke.artist]

thank you Chris

[@cidaramos8191]

Obrigada 💕

[@TOPFIVEFIT]

Thank you for changing your paintings for a great lesson!

[@philstarke.artist]

You are so welcome!

[@joyjoydraw103]

Kỹ thuật này hay lắm, cảm ơn hoạ sĩ!

[@jameswester333]

Excellent lesson! Thanks Phil👍

[@philstarke.artist]

Thanks James

[@JeffChorney]

Thanks Phil that was well done!

[@philstarke.artist]

Your welcome Jeff

[@henriquejanuario881]

Great class! Thanks for sharing!!!

[@philstarke.artist]

Your welcome Henrique

[@janetchang3657]

Great demo. Thanks Phil.

[@philstarke.artist]

you're welcome Janet!

[@Coco2345ful]

Love it! Thanks. I needed to review this again!

[@philstarke.artist]

Glad it was helpful!

[@allenbusch6877]

Another good video lesson Phil.

[@philstarke.artist]

Thanks Allen

[@lindanicholls6541]

Thanks Phil..a very valuable lesson, well explained as usual!

[@philstarke.artist]

Your welcome Linda

[@suepidlubny3183]

Great lesson. Well demonstrated. Thanks.

[@philstarke.artist]

Glad it was helpful!

[@elisabethseeger5837]

I used the scumble on a picture where i got the background mt too dark and had repainted but did not get it right- the scumble worked wonderfully and saved that painting. YAY- i had never used glazes or scumbles before- THANKS!!!

[@philstarke.artist]

Glad it helped! You're welcome

[@RayaGeo]

Thanks! I’ve always been scared to add white to a glaze/scumble, but I see it doesn’t erase what’s underneath….soft cloth v trying to smooth with a brush is a great tip too!

[@philstarke.artist]

Glad it was helpful. If you keep them thin enough you can see all thats underneath.

[@zeropointpoly]

So what mediums would be good options? I have walnut oil and linseed

[@philstarke.artist]

Either one of those would work, I would use 75% gamsol and 25% oil. I use Liquin from Winsor Newton.

[@user-oh2xs5lt7c]

I think ill mask up and wear gloves. Monet,Bob Ross and a lot of other artists should have done.