WITH SO MANY DIFFERENT TYPES OF GEL MEDIUMS to choose from, it’s easy to get confused when selecting one for your project. Creating veils, stains and glazes are other ways to use mediums in addition to the processes we’ve already discussed. These techniques are used to enhance color, to create layers of translucency or to pull back and, well, veil color. Take a look at some of the samples so you can visualize each method before putting them to use in larger works.
Add water to your surface and drop paint into the pools. Allow to dry for a watercolor look.
Add glazing medium to your paint for a translucent hue. Reapply a layer of glaze to deepen the colored effect while not covering the bottom layer entirely.
Brush a light coat of paint onto the surface. Rub the pigment into the surface with a soft cloth. In effect, you will stain the surface with color.
Paint the surface. Mix matte medium into your topcoat to dilute the color. The result is a soft, frosted hue when dry.
Notice in this example how the black line appears through the dried paint. Translucent colors of paint allow light to pass through them more readily than opaque colors. In essence, you can see through the paint. When choosing paint, many brands will either label their paint translucent or apply a swatch of paint to the tube/bottle with black lines to so you can see how a color looks when dried.
Opaque colors do not allow light, or only very little, to pass through the dried paint. The result is a solid layer of color. When you add opaque colors of paint over another color, you will mask what is underneath.
Understanding the opacity of a paint is important for an artist because the choices you make when you comprise your palette will affect how you are able to layer, blend, glaze, veil, stain and create luminous or richly dense paintings. I recommend making color charts of paints you own by brand using this method of drawing a black line for your reference. This is especially helpful if you are a beginning painter or purchasing a line of paint from a manufacturer you have not used yet.