DUSK details
J U L I A N A H A R R I S
P A I N T I N G S
My
appproach to the canvas is to build my painting slowly in layers of
translucent glaze. My medium is water-based oil, which I switched
to for health and environmental reasons. It
is not unusual for a painting to have between 30 to 80 layers of
glaze. I work slowly and allow each layer to dry before applying
the next. I don’t aim for saturated colors and deliberately leave
sections of canvas weave peek through, similar to watercolorists
who reveal the pure whites of the original paper. A painting can
have varying textures because I might return to one of the first
glazes right next to an area that has perhaps 50 layers; therefore,
an actual hill and valley results. For this reason, many people
think I'm working in encaustic until they really get close and see
what's going on. Glazing demands patience and a willingness to
completely give up what came before. A painting can change
drastically with just one application of glaze. Much depends on the
opacity or transparence of the original pigment, the strength of
the mixed tints, the ratio of pigment to medium and the type of
medium, itself. Other factors are the size of the area to be
glazed, the warmth or coolness of the tint, the warmth or coolness
of the color below it and what color is or will be next to
it.