Catherine recently asked: “In regards to the glazing, if you add a tint to the medium, won’t it interact with colours on the painting? eg: if you add a touch of yellow won’t it make blues look green? Also,I checked my portraits and I must have been adding medium to the paint in the faces and I scumbled with a bit of medium so the portraits have a bit of a sheen. However, I didn’t use medium in the rest of the pictures so the back grounds are matte. I was wondering if this doesn’t make the faces “pop” more or does it look funny?”
With respect to colour interaction, yes – if you tint the glaze you will get exactly that effect. With a yellow-tinted glaze, pink and blue will be pulled towards orange and green respectively – as if you’ve put a filter on. I would only do this if there was an evident weakness, however it’s safe in the background of course. I will regularly clear-glaze portions of a painting and this in itself reduces inconsistencies …. I have used a mild milky, fleshy glaze a couple of times to reduce the age of the subject too…however that’s probably a whole other story!
The effect of a glossy face with more matte finish around it is quite common and I guess it depends upon whether you like that effect. I think about how I would like it if I had just walked into a gallery and glanced it obliquely. Would it look designed that way or too strident or unfinished? Normally I even out the sheen somewhat, however, I have also left some with exactly the effect you describe, including the above painting “Timeless” .
Break-a-Brush!
David