Artist Interview: Julie Collins

 

Award winning artist Julie Collins, author of ‘The Colour Mixing Companion, ‘The Colour Mixing Guide, Watercolour Botanicals’ and ‘Colour Demystified’ and a member of the Society of Women Artists talks through the art of glazing in watercolours.

Glazing is the most important technique that I use in my painting. It is a wonderful way to create depth and interest in your watercolour paintings. If you look at the painting ‘Invisible Moon’ the foreground is created by painting multiple layers of paint which adds a depth and mystery to the painting.

Invisible Moon by Julie Collins 
on CP 638gsm Saunders Waterford 

The transparency of the paint is crucial for this method to work well. Each layer, or glaze, must be allowed to dry thoroughly before the next layer of paint is applied. The glazes must be very transparent so that the underlayers shine through. It is possible to use opaque paint which is thinly mixed, but transparent and semi-transparent watercolour works best. The result is that the colours are mixed by the eye, and an element of mystery and atmosphere can be created in your paintings. A simple example is if you paint a layer of yellow, allow it to dry and paint a red glaze on top it will appear as an orange – but a much more interesting orange than if you had simply painted an orange layer of paint.

Hestia by Julie Collins

In ‘Hestia’ I painted various red, pink and orange glazes to give an interesting background for the figure to stand in. Similarly, in ‘Sister Mary’ I painted at least 5 glazes of colour until I was satisfied with the depth of the red and blue areas in the painting. You will notice that when you paint the colour will seem much brighter when the paint is wet. This is another example of where glazing is useful as when it is dry you can paint another layer of paint to strengthen the colour.

Beach Huts by Julie Collins
on Saunders Waterford CP 638gsm

Glazing is useful in so many ways. If like me, you often feel intimidated by a sheet of pure white paper, you can over this by painting a light glaze as a background over the entire surface. This underlayer then has the effect of unifying the whole painting. When I started ‘Beach Huts’, I painted the entire surface with one colour which gives a unity to the picture and gave a good background to begin working with.

Solent Summer by Julie Collins
on Saunders Waterford CP 638gsm

The glazing technique is often used for landscapes and skies, see the example ‘Solent Summer’ where I have used glazing to add depth and luminosity to this landscape. Glazing will create luminosity in a way that can’t be achieved in other watercolour techniques.

Calm Before the Storm
by Julie Collins
on Saunders Waterford CP 638gsm

Several glazes or layers of paint will give depth and creates an illusion of space in a painting. In the painting ‘Calm before the storm’ I have used more complex glazing to give depth to the picture. Here I have painted large and small areas of glazes, and I gave myself plenty of time in between to consider how the painting was working out.

Saunders Waterford is robust enough to take many glazes. This paper produces a wonderful texture with each layer of paint, and the watercolour glides nicely across the surface, making it an ideal paper for glazing. My favourite paper is the Saunders Waterford CP (NOT) surface 638gsm(300lb) as I love working on heavy paper.

To find out more about Julie Collins visit:

www.juliecollins.co.uk

www.instagram.com/juliecollinsart 

‘The Colour Mixing Companion, ‘The Colour Mixing Guide, Watercolour Botanicals’ and ‘Colour Demystified’ books by Julie Collins are available through Search Press. 
 

About Julie Collins

Julie studied BA Hons Painting at the University of Reading 1980-84. She has received numerous awards for her work, including the ING Discerning Eye, three awards from the Royal Watercolour Society and has twice received the prestigious 1st prize for watercolour at the Royal West of England Academy. During 2021 Julie was elected a member of the Society of Women Artists, a Member of the SWA Council and RWA Network Member.  Julie has written seven art books to date, ‘Colour Demystified’ was published by Search Press in August. Her latest book, ‘The Colour Mixing Companion’ was published May 2023 and can be seen for sale at Tate Modern, Tate Britain and Kew Gardens. Julie is currently working on three new watercolour books to be published 2025-2026.

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