Basic Acrylic Painting - Overglaze and Finishing

Mary Gallagher Stout: Hi! I am Mary Gallagher Stout. Today, we are at the Lorton Workhouse Center where my studio is. We are creating a very stony lion. Now that our lion is completely dry, its time to over glaze with the over glazing stage of our project. I am going to over glaze it with a golden fresco cream and some burnt umber, very diluted. So lets get started.

We are just going to roll the fresco cream on. Then we are going to do a little sponging. You can see that our lion is very stony. Those dramatic highlights that we put in are now muted and you wouldnt be able to see them if they werent so dramatic. Like I said, when you are putting them on, even I get nervous. When I am looking, I am like oh my goodness! Its too lightened, its just too bold. You really need it to get the dimension and to have the depths. Once we over glaze it, you really, really, really, really need to keep your highlights light and your darks dark.

Now I am going to go in with a little sea sponge. I am going to wet it, I am going to wet my little sea sponge and I am just going to go over it to give it just that little bit more texture within the glaze itself. Then I am going to do a little bit of flicking, I am going to flick him again like we did before. Then he is all done. We have painted our stony lion, we just build it up in a matter of glazes and graining. I think the most important thing is that you paint how you like because its all about artistic license. You can paint with a reference or without a reference, the important thing is to have a good time and to not stop trying and dont see it as a mistake; just look it as a new beginning if your brush doesnt go where you want it go. Maybe its a new pathway for you.