How to Layer Like a Master: Glazing, Impasto & Alla Prima Explained
Layering in oil paint isn’t just about technique—it’s about storytelling. Every swipe, glaze, and thick stroke adds another sentence to the story you're telling with light, texture, and depth. The way you layer your brushwork can reveal emotion, rhythm, tension, and calm—all within the same canvas. Whether you're capturing a crashing wave or the stillness of a twilight horizon, how you build your surface matters.
But before we dive into specific techniques, it’s essential to understand one core principle of traditional oil painting: fat over lean. This isn’t just some old rule—it’s the backbone of building stable, long-lasting layers.
What is Fat Over Lean? In oil painting, “fat” means paint with more oil content, while “lean” means paint with less. To prevent cracking as your painting cures, each new layer of paint should be more flexible (fatter) than the one beneath it. This means your first layers should be lean—using just paint or a bit of solvent—and subsequent layers should gradually include more oil or medium.
It’s a rule that protects your work and rewards your patience.
In fact, some of my artworks evolve over years. I’ve spent more than two years glazing a single painting to completion. These slow builds allow light to travel through dozens of color veils, glowing from within. It’s not about perfection—it’s about letting each artwork reveal itself in time.
Now that we’ve covered the foundation, let’s explore three techniques I use constantly—impasto, glazing, and alla prima—that can help you create layered artwork full of movement, emotion, and life.
1. Impasto: Painting with Texture What it is: Impasto is the bold, textural technique of applying paint thickly so it stands off the surface. It’s how you get peaks of foam in waves, textured tree bark, rugged rocks, or dramatic light play that almost begs to be touched. This technique emphasizes physicality—you see the brushstroke, but you also feel it.
How to use it: Load your brush or palette knife with rich, thick paint and lay it down confidently. You can mix your paint with a medium like cold wax or an impasto gel to enhance volume and structure. Start with highlights or foreground elements where you want to draw the eye. Impasto is especially powerful when contrasted with smooth, blended passages, giving the viewer a tactile shift that heightens impact. Try it when you want your painting to be as much about feel as about form.
Close-up of impasto wave texture using a palette knife.
2. Glazing: Light Through Layers What it is: Glazing involves applying thin, transparent layers of color over dried paint. Think of it like laying colored glass over your canvas—the light still moves through, bounces off the underpainting, and returns to your eye glowing. It’s an old master technique used to create shadows that breathe and colors that shift depending on your angle or light source.
How to use it: First, allow your underpainting to dry completely. Then thin your oil paint with a glazing medium (such as linseed oil, Galkyd, or Liquin) to achieve a transparent consistency. Apply in whisper-light layers using a soft brush. You can build warmth, coolness, or mood over time—especially in skies, skin, water, and distant mountains. Glazing is a patient, meditative process that rewards subtlety and vision.
Some of my most luminous seascapes are the result of dozens of glazes built over months—sometimes years. It’s not uncommon for me to return to an artwork again and again as it calls me back. When you embrace this rhythm, your work begins to breathe with time.
3. Alla Prima: All at Once What it is: Alla prima (Italian for “at first attempt”) is also known as wet-on-wet painting. It’s a fast, expressive technique where you complete the artwork in a single session, applying new paint to still-wet layers underneath. This creates soft edges, energetic blends, and spontaneous brushwork that often capture a subject’s essence more vividly than slower techniques.
How to use it: Mix your colors beforehand and have a general plan for your values and composition. Work quickly and confidently, adjusting as you go. Use softer brushes for blending and bristle brushes for texture. This approach is fantastic for plein air painting, sketches, and emotional scenes that demand immediacy. Remember: alla prima isn’t about perfection—it’s about momentum and intuition.
Alla prima or “wet on wet” landscape painted in a single afternoon on the Colorado front range. Inspired by Bob Ross, and part of the Inspired Works Series.
Final Thoughts You don’t need to master all three techniques before diving in. Start with the one that excites your creative senses most. Try impasto when you want to make bold moves and feel your painting grow beneath your hand. Use glazing when you're in a contemplative mood, building atmosphere through soft transitions and glowing depth. Or dive into alla prima when you’re ready to paint from your gut and trust your instincts.
Layering is where oil painting truly becomes alive—where each brushstroke is more than color; it's emotion, structure, and energy. When you understand how to combine and contrast these approaches, your work gains dimension and presence. And more importantly, it becomes yours.
Don’t be afraid to mix methods either. Some of my favorite paintings combine all three—thick impasto highlights, glazed shadows, and spontaneous alla prima skies. That’s the beauty of oil: it gives you the tools to build complexity, one thoughtful layer at a time.
