In principle, any oil painting which you are working on can have the technique of glazing applied to it, and the overall finish should benefit as you develop expertise in its use. Although it is frequently used as a method of changing the colour of one layer of oil paint by applying a second, transparent layer painted over it, its use can be developed further in other ways. Some of these ways are suggested below, together with some hints on how to proceed. In my article "How Painting In Oil Is Improved With Glazing" I discussed the basic glazing technique and how it can be used to improve oil paintings. In this article I explain how the technique can be developed. Like most methods and techniques, one needs to practice in order to master the approach, but that can be done inexpensively on spare material. But it is a method of working that all artists use because of its obvious advantages and the (sometimes great) cost of introducing a new technique straight into a painting. Øgenerally use a lighter rather than a darker tone initially. You can always darken a light tone but it will be much more of a problem to lighten a dark one. Use Of Glazing In Creating Shadows Shadows occur very frequently in paintings and it is difficult to generalize about their colour since they will vary from scene to scene, and with the amount of brightness, etc. But a shadow will be darker than other areas in the scene. So if, say, a building is casting a shadow Ødecide on its shape and extent; Øin the early stages of experience, select a transparent gray to use for the shadow and deposit a small quantity onto your pallet. (Later on you can experiment with different colours for shadows)> Pour a small quantity of a thin glazing medium into a shallow container. Using, say, a filbert brush, acquire a liberal quantity of medium on the brush and, pushing the brush into the paint, create a new liquid deposit of paint next to the original by withdrawing the brush slightly and pushing down on it against the pallet. Dab the brush onto a piece of toweling to reduce the quantity on the brush. This will give a light tone for the shadow, and you can always darken it subsequently. Let the paint dry. If the area of shadow is too light, repeat as needed to get the required effect. The same kind of method can be used for the following uses. Shading can be seen as a type of shadow but there are differences. One is that it is not a "thrown" shadow. For instance, if you were painting a tree trunk, part of it will be away from the light source and therefore darker than the rest. The difference in tone, in an instance like this, is unlikely to terminate in a sharp line, so you would need to thin out the shadow into the main colour. This can often best be done by painting the shadow in first and then drying the brush out. You can then use very light strokes to gradually reduce the degree of the shadow. You can approach reflections in a similar way, although these can be more difficult to achieve. Ensure you do not make the initial reflection too heavy. The shape of whatever is being reflected will obviously need to be broken up (probably both) vertically horizontally. The extent to which this is done will, of course, depend on the movement of the water which itself is determined by wind, currents and, if part of an estuary, tidal effects. All these need to be taken into account when planning the painting and deciding on the overall effect you wish to create. For example, the scene will appear more peaceful with very still water so that there is barely any breaking of the reflections. This, incidentally, is likely to be easier to achieve that a scene in which there is considerable movement of the water. As you progress, you will discover other uses for glazing. The approach is traditional, making use of various techniques, including impasto and glazing. This link will take you to the main categories of landscapes, seascapes, snowscapes, waterscapes and still life and all are provided with free frames and fastenings.