Glazing Test Pattern

Hello there! Today I decided to share an underpainting with you. An underpainting is a layer or layers of paint over which you plan to apply more. I am preparing to attend a class on glazing with acrylics in a few weeks, and we are supposed to prepare a couple of underpaintings prior to class. That way we can practice how to glaze using thin washes of acrylic paint over other layers.

My glazing test pattern:
(Click any image to view it larger.)

For my first underpainting, I made this test pattern. I used a combination of three different kinds of acrylic paints: Apple Barrel, Ceramcoat, and Golden. And I used a variety of colors. Warm and cool tones are represented, as are light (high key) and dark (low key) colors. I really kind of like it just how it is!

To make the test pattern, I first coated a 6" x 12" canvas panel with a neutral gray color. Then I marked out a 1" square grid using pencil. I lined up my paints in the order I wanted to use them and painted them in the grids. It was pretty simple to do. I decided on a grid of 4 colors across, by 6 colors tall, repeated three times.

You can notice several things about the different acrylic paints and the different colors just by looking at them. Some of them are more opaque while others are more translucent. Some are matte and some are glossy. They are fun to look at!

How the matte and shiny colors are divided:

All of the colors on the left side are Apple Barrel or Ceramcoat acrylics, which have a chalkier, more matte finish. The colors on the right side are all Golden acrylics and have a shinier gloss finish. It isn't as easy to tell in the photo, but in real life the contrast is very apparent and striking.

The name of the colors used for each square:

I have labeled each of the colors that I used in my grid pattern. On the left matte side, the Ivory and Santa's Flesh colors are by Ceramcoat, and all the rest are by Apple Barrel. On the shiny gloss side, all colors are by Golden.

It will be interesting to see how the application of glazes over top of this underpainting affect it. I repeated the grid three times so that I can try at least three different glazing treatments on this test panel and then compare them.

Materials used:

• Delta Creative® Ceramcoat acrylic paints: Ivory and Santa's Flesh.


• Fredrix canvas panel - 6" x 12"


• Golden Fluid Acrylics: Burnt Sienna, Chromium Oxide Green, Green Gold, Hansa Yellow Medium, Naphthol Red Light, Permanent Violet Dark, Primary Cyan, Quinacridone Magenta, Red Oxide, Turquois (Phthalo), Vat Orange, and Yellow Ochre.


• Golden Heavy Body Acrylics - Neutral Gray N5


• Plaid® Apple Barrel acrylic paints: Banana, Bubble Gum, Caribbean, Carolina Blue, Country Grey, Hot Pink, Parakeet, Petunia Purple, Plum Kiss, and Tiger Lily.

Do you ever do tests or experiments with your art supplies to see how they will behave? To try to figure out what your results will be, before you use those supplies on a bigger project? I'd love to hear about it!

And, as always, thanks for stopping by!