Steve I so appreciate your tips, you are the reason I started watercolor when I was diagnosed with cancer, it has been my mental life saving therapy. I got a long way to go- but every practice brings joy and learning opportunities.

Love "...glazes are just whispers of color..." Beautiful image to remember for me, Thank you!

I actually like when you pick out a throw-away comment from another artist or teacher, and give these very clear counter-arguments. I honestly don't feel like you're flaming on anyone, let alone ranting. It's just a sober counter-argument every time, and it's always enlightening to me. Thank you for yet another great video. At the moment I am at a point in my artistic development where, despite my love for colour, I feel like I need to work on my drawing skills before I can really develop my painting at a reasonable pace. Do you ever go back and forth like that, or maybe did, earlier on in your skill levels?

Wonderful instructions and demonstration of techniques. Building luminosity through layering/glazing is what attracted me to watercolor in the first place. I can't imagine why anyone would think or teach differently. You are honest and almost always correct; that's why I come back, week after week, to learn from you. Well that and Reese's complex personality issues - he is an "onion," just so many layers.

Add Louise de Masi to the list. She's a master at it, as well. Thanks for the tips, Steve. :)

When people, be it artists or politicians or medicals, assert black and white "It must be this way..." I automatically resist (must be the rebel in me!!). I so appreciate your response, yes, there are methods we need to study and master, but brilliance and originality in execution oftentimes is a case of breaking through, knocking down the walls that say "You will do it like this!" If not for that possibility, we wouldn't have the impressionists, modernists, or expressionists. I so appreciate your willingness to confront dogmatic instruction, because what happens on the other side of that kind of instruction? If the individual is able to master that? Doesn't that person just join the ranks of the instructor's theory? And if the individual can't master that? Doesn't the person ultimately feel defeated? I love learning the techniques and theory. But the best teachers are the ones who not only impart knowledge, but they set their students loose to fly!! Thank you, Steve, great instruction and nice work!!

I got soo much out of this tutorial, thank you!! It’s quite amazing how you transformed what I thought was perfect in the first place! Your generosity is so sincerely appreciated! Warm regards, Barbara

Thank you, Steve. It was very helpful to see how long this takes to do right. I'm always rushing and get a muddy mess.

Thank you so much for the lesson, and all the others you have on your site. I will be saving this lesson (as I have all your lessons),and watching it over and over again. I’m trying to get back into watercolors after 20 years. Thanks to you I have just learned that I have been doing everything wrong when TRYING to layer colors. Thank you, thank you, thank you. You have saved my sanity. As always I will continue to watch ALL of your lessons. You make complicated things easy to understand. You speak English not “paintese” in terms and instructions I can understand. Thanks again

Thanks for your layering tips, I'm working on exactly that in my botanical watercolours. I'd like to see more on detailing leaves, they are such an enigma to me the way they twist, fold and catch light so differently all in one painting.

100 years ago when I was an art student in high school, layering of watercolors apparently was not a thing. At least I didn’t learn about it. Fast forward to about a year and a half ago. I discovered layering/glazing of watercolors. And although real life took me away from the art that I loved, I picked up brushes and watercolors and began all over again. The work that I am doing as a senior far surpasses anything I ever did as a young adult. This technique is everything that I ever wanted watercolors to be. Absolutely beautiful. Thank you so much for your lessons!

Excellent advice - helps a lot. Especially the tip about water management.

I've been trying some paintings with glazes and am so happy to find this video. My paintings have been ok, but not as luminous as I'd like. Your tips helped me understand how to improve my glazing. Wonderful! Thank you.

Thank you for this video! I actually just the other day saw a KZfaq tutorial where the artist said that glazing in many layers is kind of bad and takes the luminosity out of the painting and the prime feature of watercolor, and I really second guessed myself, looked at my paintings with many layers of glazing and wondered whether I had been doing it wrong for all this time. So thanks, I really appreciate your clarification of that statement. It helped me to gain confidence in the style that I had adopted in my watercolor paintings.

Crazy when KZfaqrs read my mind and upload a video . 😱I was literally looking for layering and glazing videos/ blog posts yesterday. I really appreciate these florals/botanical tutorials. Wonder if you can layer trees too. My other fav topic. And yes learnt my lesson the hard way about not ‘planning’ a layering strategy. Totally must plan, atleast for me. And you are using Mission Gold😱 that’s what I have . Uncanny.lol.

Your detailed video on rose painting inspired me to draw one and everyone appreciated it so much.Thanks a ton

Lost for words because your talent speaks for itself:) Thank you for sharing this painting 🖌️. I feel more inspired to try these techniques out. Never stop teaching.

So beautiful.

Thank you for explaining glazing. You have such a light touch with this beautiful painting. Im going to practice your tips.

Superb as always. Thanks for your teaching and your positive impact in our world.

I'm new to WC art and have wanting to know how to get the true wc painting; the look. So happy to have found you! Thank you for sharing your technique and knowledge..

These are good tips. It's easy to forget. With watercolour techniques. There is so much.thankyou

Beautiful! And it's called patience, patience. Not anything to rush.

Thank you for discussing layering & glazing with watercolors. I have a better understanding now.

Thanks Steve. I enjoy watching your glazing technique.

Thank you for a clear demonstration and explanations. It’s always a pleasure to watch you paint. Inspiring.

Great explanation regarding glazing. Thank you

Wow I can only dream! I need to practice a lot more than I’m currently able to

Thank you! Great Hints 😊

This clip is actually what I think I needed at this point in time. I definitely will work on this, I plan to bookmark this one and practice. Thank you.

Thanks so much for posting this. Clearest, most useful- and most beautiful- YT on actually doing glazing/ layering this complete newbie has seen.

Thank you this has explained this much better than the way I have seen it done..To be honest I am just starting back with watercolours and watched a lot but so many do not explain the how to daydream or how to blend ,you have done this so now hopefully I can use my watercolour for more than a background..I have had to finish with pencils to get the results I wanted..Now I know better I should be fine..Love this painting it is beautiful 😀

I love this tutorial. If the mood takes you, please do more flowers.

Thank you so much! Sometime, I would like to glaze a light color after shading (normally is the analogous colors like yellow and green) to change a little bit of the saturation. 😄 By the way, this video is really needed! 🥰 Love your video

Thanks so very much for the great tips and the list of inspiring artists!

I really liked your very clear explanation about glazing & layering. I love how you flowers & leaves are coming along. Could you also mention design size & paper size. I think you usually do. I get tripped up sometimes thinking a painting is small - 5 x7 say, and trying to cram in the detail that would usually be in something more like 10 x 14. Thank you so much!!

Lots of wonderful tips here Steve! I learned a lot, thank you!

Great lesson Steve, I would love to see you do more videos like this, working on the same painting over a longer period of time. It would help as I could follow along and know I only have a small section to achieve and not a whole painting which often feels beyond my ability. Smaller chucks I might be able to keep up and feel better about what I’m achieving. You are such a great teacher. How does Reece feel about taking it slow? ❤️🇬🇧

So timely! I have been wondering how to tackle hot-press paper. My typical heavy-handed, impatient approach has definitely not been working. I will have to discipline myself to follow these five tips and see if it helps! I so much appreciate your emphasis on how long it will take to finish this one painting. I really needed to hear that. Thank you!! thank you!! thank you!!!

I bought Anna Mason’s book, and am currently going through the exercises. I’m hoping I can understand the process when I’m done, and your list helps. As always, thank you!

Thank you Steve. That was an awesome lesson.

Thank you for this valuable lesson

beautiful. Love the way you explain.

Very beautiful and thank you for your tips .

I love your explanation of the glazing process. This is the type of water colouring I want to create. Gorgeous work, thank you !

i found this video so helpful and easily to understand. thank you so much👍🏼 your instructions are organized and said in a very direct way! you are a very gifted artist, wish you did workshops in my area🥰

I that glazing is when you are done with shading and and you just glaze usually lighter color over sometimes to sections sometimes to the whole background or foreground etc.

Very informative as always Steve. Thanks.

Thanks - so helpful & clearly presented.

To great job. I really enjoyed your exquisite form to explain layering and glazing, I learn today a lot off new tips, I will try it. Thank you so much to teach you great talent. Greeting

Great tips! Thanks Steve. I love detail and layers too but lately the trend is more loose, fast and drippy. Amazed by how you do both so well :)

Absolutely fabulous lesson! Thank you so much. I especially liked seeing your work and paint applications so up close and enlarged--very enlightening. The composition is beautiful!

The example painting your working on is a perfect example of layering to create luminosity. It’s popping off the page. Beautiful work!

Excellent Steve‼️

Gorgeous piece!!! I'm currently working on a piece that has TONS of glazes. I find that I achieve a lot more depth with glazing, but as you said it's a matter of preference! You can also get stunning results alla prima or single layer.

I loved this. Just what I needed right now. Loved, loved, loved it! Thank you. (Especially the part on luminosity!)

Great Tips Steve. Need to try this.

Steve, I just found your channel. What an inspiration!

Another great tutorial from a wonderful guru! You have taught me SO much. I have always layered and glazed even before I knew what it was called as I came from oils to watercolour and ...well.. just kept doing it that way. I admire those who can do that a la prima thing, but beyond me for now. People often ask me how I get this or that effect. I say glazes. Sometimes so many I loose track! I loved your tips. You put it all into words. And it was fun to see how many of those books you have I have too! Soon Warren is amazing! Thank you again and again.

Thank you for the tips, Steve.

Another artist you might be familiar with is Anna Buccerelli. she creates beautiful luminous images with the multi layering technique. The piece you are working on is reminiscent of her extraordinarily detailed botanicals. So many great artists to learn from. Thanks for this one.

OMG thats beautiful

I enjoyed seeing this progress a bit further. Detailed watercolors like this on hot press with lots of glazing often feel similar to color pencil to me for some reason... I've heard it's good to do the first layers with staining colors vs granulating colors, though I've seen a lot of professional artists not worry about that (though they are usually doing very minimal glazing, and of course only after the first layer is bone-dry). I worry about it less now, but keep it as a good rule of thumb. Anthraquinone blue is staining but still seems to lift a lot when I glaze, so maybe it's more a matter of how heavy and dark the lower layer is, like you point out.

Wooow..!!! Loved yr work.💜💜💜

In addition to all the information, I loved your reaction to your own dad joke. I look forward to each of your videos, thanks for sharing your knowledge and humor :)

Could you maybe show us how and what colors you mix in a demo like this, with glazes? Thanks!

Thank you for the good and detailed explanation.

Great tips..you are truly a very gifted Watercolour teacher..every video of yours is a valuable lesson

WOW STEVE, YOU ARE THE NEXT ANNA MASON! VERY NICE :-)

some great points Steve thank you

Awesome video! I primarily paint in acrylic/oil and always overwork the surface

Cool. Glazing is something I need to work on more. Thanks.

Wow! Absolutely beautiful sir and I’m so insprired with your artworks sir. God bless you.☺️❤️🙏🏻

Thanks for another great video. They should come with a warning about being addictive! I had to back up to the earlier glazing videos to watch again. I find the way you paint mesmerizing, and there is so much useful information.

You add beauty to the world

Beautiful!

Thank you so much Steve. I truly appreciate your tutorials and guidance in watercolour. I was watching MD videos, where he talked about artistic slump, being that in one at the moment. I was wondering if you have ever experienced an artistic slump, where you feel a little unmotivated, and what were some of the things you did to guide yourself out of it? BTW MD offered some helpful advice.

Awesome! Enjoyed it

Great video. Thank you

I just wish you were my neighbor! lol I'm in Montana....... beautiful things to paint here! You're one of the many bests out there Steve!

Tip number five is absolutely the thing I need to learn. Take a break, don't think to yourself I'm almost finished I'll just do this bit and then it's finished. Gahh I have messed up two paintings in a row like that. Ahhh well I learn more from my mistakes than I do from my successes.

I considered glazing good for 'fine tuning' the colours once the aquarell has dried. The problem is: while, indeed,you can change it towards the desired colour, it alters the shade too-makes it darker.

This is how I always imagined watercolor to be, lots of delicate layers of soft hues. I figured that was the point of the water in the first place, to allow that translucency between layers. Some of the one layer techniques artists use terrify me. I could never add a bunch of water and pigment and mix on the paper and hope for the best, and they feel a lot less like watercolor because of how heavy handed they are with the pigment. To each their own, of course, but it's not for me.

I enjoyed your clear explanation of the glazing process. This really helped me a lot. I recently discovered the art of Soon Y. Warren. Her marble paintings are amazing.

One difficult thing to measure is a painter or illustrator's style when it comes to how they approach each piece. You have such a thoughtful considerate "hand" with your work, which I admire, to no end; however, with me, I have a much more aggressive, clunky "hand" for my style of work. These tips, I think, are so much more meaningful to someone like me, because I don't normally consider things like (Tip 3) transparency or pigment information. I just look at the colors in my pan and use them! I know it's naive, but it's how I've always approached my painting. Much like the way I play guitar - completely wrong, but it works! lol! So, in all, I am especially excited to hear your thoughts on these topics and techniques, because it reminds me that I should be more astute and aware. I just get a little lazy when I'm working. lol! Thank you and there's a lot to think about here. I hope you are all well and staying healthy, my friend! ~ Mark

Thank you for the great videos.

Հրաշք է☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆SuperlikE☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

Hi Steve. Thank you! Artist Arleta Pech had her own sets of colored acetate sheets to lay over her painting to see what color results would be before glazing. One can also use wet media acetate sheets to lay over the painting to see what glazing results would be using your own paint, before adding to the paper. I'm a grazer myself. I love that method. James Toogood's book was the 1st book I ever read that taught me, there is no right or wrong way to paint or create art. I love what you share. PS, I love Reese. Or is it Reece?

Thank you for this. I'm back with the watercolors, I don't know why I like that nightmare haha. Very useful video!

I'm thankful for this video on glazing since that is one of my weaknesses. I've noticed some artists refer to semi-transparent paints as "transparent." I see ST and T as different, so when you say use transparent, are you including semi-transparent? I learned a a lot from watching you paint - helps one see how to apply it appropriately with the brush. You are an amazing teacher - you are appreciated. Thanks

I would love to take a live lesson from you. Have you considered doing a KZfaq live or Zoom class?

Great video ! I'm a big fan of layering, it much safer for me. Did you ever try Anna Mason's paint brushes ? They're great, some of my favorites !

Thanks

After watching this the other day I was thinking about the knowledge you share. You spoke about masking fluid and certain paper. So I have a suggestion for a video.... saving new artists what not to put together. I’ve already learned the use good paper. Anything you share would be appreciated Thank you

You’re part of the reason I chose to buy some Silver black velvet brushes when I got serious about watercolor. So, may I ask what is your opinion of Escoda Reserva brushes? I’ve thought of purchasing a medium sized round.

The biggest question that I have is how do you know when you’re done? I loved the piece at the start before you began this round of glazing but as you moved along it acquired so much depth. When do you stop before the piece becomes overworked? Do you have any wisdom on this?

Did you forget to add the link to the earlier video where you worked on this project and glazing? I have looked through the list several times and am just not finding it. As usual, this is great stuff and well done both in terms of your painting skill and your communication skills. It really helps to hear some of your inner thoughts as you are making decisions about the painting.Those have helped me understand some of mine are not a problem, that I am on the right track. You have more than once saved me from throwing in the brush! Thanks!

Just the commentary I needed to hear on glazings and layering. It seems that I see videos where the painting is done in one go, then others where there is layering. I’m new to watercolor and I have done a few paintings where I have done some layering and glazing that I thought they came out nicely but somehow I felt I was doing watercolor wrong (If that makes sense.) I think this helped me clarify some of my thoughts. Thank you for the knowledge you shared.

Loved your glazing techniques, Steve. That’s something I really need to work on as I am not good at it. Your instructions were very clear. One thing I would like to ask you is what kind of pallet structure are you using? The thing that your picture is resting on.

Thank You for your tips on glazing. Is glazing necessary for all watercolor paintings ? I'm a beginner so I don't know when to layer and when I shouldn't.