7 Old Master Oil Painting Secrets That Make Paintings Glow | Grisaille, Glazing & Scumbling

Have you ever finished a painting that looks pretty realistic but somehow still lacks some old master quality? Today, I'm breaking down 7 classical oil painting secrets you need to know through my study of Carlo Dolci's An Allegory of Patience. Secret 1. What exactly is the Flemish technique Actually, there is no such thing as a fixed 7-layer formula. Flemish painting combines different techniques and materials. Masters like Jan van Eyck took advantage of the possibility of oil paint. Unlike egg tempera, which dries relatively quickly, oil paint allows for more gradual blending and subtle transitions. By building up thin layers of paint and carefully controlling transparency, Artists can create incredibly smooth skin tones, rich colors, and a sense of light coming from within the painting. That's one of the things I found fascinating about this technique. The light doesn't just sit on the surface, it seems to glow from within. Secret 2. Why do I start with a primatura instead of painting directly onto a white canvas? Well, think of it like makeup. If you're familiar with makeup, you know that its right base changes everything. If you've never applied foundation before, just take my word for it. It creates the smoothest canvas for everything that follows. For this painting, I'm using a greenish tone, but you can choose different colors depending on the effect you want. The goal is to take that dry flat looking surface and give it a richer slightly glossy appearance, creating a better starting point for the layers that follow. And just like makeup, this first layer doesn't do all the work. The real magic comes from how we build on top of it. Secret 3. What exactly is that colouring? Are we painting the image all over again? The important thing to understand is that we are not simply painting the entire image all over again. The underlay has already established the basic structure, the shadows, and overall value relationships. The dead coloring stage develops that structure further, introducing the colors and temperatures relationships that will support final painting. I don't want to lose everything we've established in warm brown underpainting. Those warm tones are still important, especially in the shadows and transitions between light and dark. Instead of completely covering the umber, I want the two layers to work together. Some areas of the brown underpainting can remain visible, while other areas are developed with cooler or more opaque colors. This creates a relationship. between the warm tones underneath and the cooler tones above, giving the painting more depth and complexity. The idea is to build on what's already there, rather than erase it and start again. Secret 4. What's the difference between glazing and scumbling? It's actually quite simple, glazing lets the color underneath shine through. Scumbling partially covers it. Let me show you, with glazing, I use a transparent color usually within a little glazing medium and apply it over a completely dry layer. I don't want to hide what's underneath, I want to change its color, deepen its shadows or make it richer while keeping the underlying layer visible. Now scumbling is different, I use a lighter more opaque paint with very little medium And gently drag it over a dry surface. I don't completely cover the layer underneath, so some of the original colours still show through. Think of it this way, glazing is like looking through coloured glass. Scumbling is like a thin veil over the painting. So if I want deep, rich shadows, I use glazing. If I want to soften the transition, lighten the area, or create a delicate, hazy effect, I may use scumbling. So what I'm using here, I'm using my own egg oil emulsion, but only for the light passages in my dead colour layer. Why not just use regular oil paint? Well, I want more control over the light areas. The egg oil emulsion changes the way the paint handles. Helps me build up the lights with more definition instead of letting everything become too smooth and blended. The secret is combining some of the working qualities of egg-based paint with those of oil paint. I'm using it selectively, not across the entire painting, because I want to establish the lighter forms first, and then develop the color and depth in the later layers. The exact proportions matter too, so let me show you how I prepare my mixture. Secret 6. Why am I using Verdaccio over a grey underpainting? After the grey layer is completely dry, I apply Terra Verte focusing mainly on the shadows. This is inspired by the traditional technique known as Verdaccio. But who invented it? Well, there isn't one single inventor. The technique has roots in Byzantine painting and become widely used in Italian painting during the Middle Ages and Renaissance. The painter and writer Cennino Cennini even described green underpainting methods in his early 15th century treatise. In my case, I'm not painting a traditional value layer from scratch. I'm applying a tar over over my already dried gray underpainting. Why focus on the shadows? Because the green helps cool down and subtly modify those darker areas, while the gray underneath preserves the value structure. Later, I'll build up the warmer colours over it. The idea is to establish the values first, introduce the green into the shadows, and then develop the warmth and the colour in the later layers. Secret 7. Why do I need to let each layer dry before moving on? So why not just keep painting while the previous layer is still wet? The main reason is control. When I'm working with an indirect painting method, I need to know how the underpainting layer will behave when I apply the next one. If the paint underneath is still wet, the colors can mix together physically, making it more difficult to preserve the transparency, temperature and value relationships I've already established. Allowing the layer to dry gives me a more stable surface to work on. It also makes it easier to apply a glaze without disturbing the layer beneath it. This is especially important when I want to keep the warm umber tones, the gray value structure and the green glaze working together without losing their individual roles. Another consideration is the medium itself. Different formulations dry at different rates, so I need to judge the surface according to the materials I'm actually using rather than simply following a fixed timetable. I'm not waiting just because traditional painters did it this way. I'm waiting because each layer needs to do its job before I ask the next layer to do something different. Ultimately, the aim is to build the painting gradually, with each stage contributing something specific to the final result.