pochade_palette

Giovanni Boldini Glazing Technique

Added 2022-09-01 12:03:30 +0000 UTC

In reference to the previous glazing video, we discussed reworking your painting with an extremely common technique for oil paint, a "glaze".

In this beautiful painting called The News Vendor, you can see that Boldini was allowing certain areas to dry before proceeding with the composition, and not always having to work all areas of the block-in simultaneously.

This interests me a lot because it is in direct opposition to the idea that all parts of the painting should be developed at the same time...

Boldini was an incredible draftsman, which indicates that it is not "pentimento" but rather his understanding of what he could get away with during the development of the painting. Pentimento commonly refers to an area that was moved because the artist had made a mistake or changed the picture half way through the course of the painting process, and it has become apparent over time with the thinning of the paint.

I reference this example by Boldini to help you understand that in the video on glazing I set up the block-in beforehand (which was not part of the 1 hr demo) to continue working on the painting, knowing that I would go back into areas and repaint. Not because of a mistake, but precisely because of the understanding of how oil paint is better utilized in multiple layers.

Questions and comments below as always, I will give my opinion if I have something to add.