A short basic description of what Lazure is:

"Lazure is layers of paint prepared nearly as thin and transparent as watercolor, consisting of water, binder, and pigment. It is applied with a rhythmical movement using large brushes. The final color is achieved using varied colors applied in several layers, over a white surface."
https://lazurebylogsdon.com/

The Nitty-Gritty

I just finished my first coat of yellow Lazure on my kitchen walls.  As I was struggling through it, I wondered, "why didn't anyone tell me I couldn't do it by myself?"  Or, maybe if I had, I would have done it anyway?

I don't know.  But the basic technique I learned in a workshop with Charles Andrade could not be replicated by me, being as I'm working alone.  I'm talking about the technique of painting the wall with one brush and coming up behind it with another, "dry" brush to sweep up the drips and spread them on the wall again, so that it glistens before drying.  The only humanly way possible (okay, maybe I'm exaggerating a bit!) for me to do that alone is to concentrate on one small area, picking up one brush and painting with it, then picking up the other brush and spreading it around.  Meanwhile, the areas adjacent to that spot don't get paint spread to them, and a line will show up later, after subsequent layers of paint are applied.  Yet if I include a larger area to paint, then don't have time to work one small area before the rest dries.

I went with painting a large swath to avoid differences in paint intensity, etc. between one area painted now and the adjacent area painted later.  So not using my "dry" brush yet.  This may get easier once several layers are down and I can see what I'm doing.  Right now, the paint is going on almost clear with a faint yellow tint.

Oh, there's also been me taping as I go -- not a recommended practice.  And finding nail holes to plug.  Same caveat.

But on the positive, I DID mix the formula correctly -- 3/4 cup water to 1 tablespoon Accent Base, plus a smidgeon of yellow Light Hansa Acrylic paint (Liquitex).  And used my 2 lovely brushes (available online), though they had small bits of errant hairs in the bristles before I cleaned them thoroughly.

Also, I needed to modify the large sweeping motions so I could paint narrow areas only about 1 foot wide.

That's it for now.  Back to my next layer.  Probably yellow again, and then want to come in with blue, so that the result will be blue green (?), yellow green (?).  I want to taper to a rose color as I get closer to the kitchen sink and stove.  But for now, that's all hypothetical since part of the process is that I don't know how it will look on my wall.  I only have seen other walls painted by other people.  So this is MY experiment and at some point I have to let go of trying to make my walls look like theirs.  Maybe I'll come close.  I don't know.  The only thing I know is that I have to try, and make my own attempt.  (I know I'll learn lots, but that's a subject for another time.)  Thanks for reading and be uniquely who you are!

Hi everybody,

I'm going to attempt a lazure painting of my kitchen, so thought I'd start this blog back up.  I put it on hold for several years because it seemed overwhelming to do by myself, but I have decided to put myself into it, in a limited form - one wall in my kitchen, to see how I do.

Over the years, I spent time exhaustively studying and researching the process, rewriting notes from a workshop I took in 2013 and also notes from other participants in another workshop.  I went over every detail of what to expect and what to look for.  I google "Lazure" a million times to see what people were up to with it.  I was just googling Lazure images just now and remembered this blog.

The kitchen wall I'm going to paint has been primed and painted white.  I used Zinsser Primer on practice panels and  Benjamin Moore Natura Eggshell on the walls.

For the Medium Water for the glaze base, I'm using Glidden Accent Base/Base 3.  (My workshop teacher used Aura Clear/Neutral.)

I have more details if you're interested.  Just leave a comment or check my Twitter.com address @Lauradeanneh.

Thanks for stopping by!

Lazure-painted walls at Charles Andrade workshop, Summer 2013

I will post some more about lazure soon.  Thanks for reading.

Lazure!

I have started learning how to paint lazure!  I've wanted to do it for years ever since I first found out about it when my close friend and her paint mentor painted her living room, dining room, kitchen, and front hallway (which I helped with, incidentally).  I just had to wait til I bought a house.  I had a mobile home at the time with wallpaper on the walls.

Because there are not a lot of sources online for info, I want to share what I learn, and maybe it will inspire someone else to take the leap.  Since I believe in my heart that it will be well worth the effort!

This is a picture of my first practice board which is a tempered hardboard from Home Depot, cut into thirds from the original 4' x 8.   I started with a primer and then a coat of white base paint (eggshell).  Then using special brushes (more about that later), I and a friend who had done the technique in her house, used an accent base (without added paint color) and a smidgeon of acrylic paint (I started with blue) to a bucket with about 12 parts water to 1 part accent base, stirring it around til you get it all dissolved and have a thin consistency of paint color.  I think I applied two coats of blue (letting the first dry for 20+ minutes), then a yellow coat, then blue again.  We were experimenting to see how to get a gentle green in the blue.  We could also have added green color directly from a tube of paint, instead of painting blue, then yellow to get green.  This board has 3-5 layers of acrylic paint on it, which I'm just showing you so you can get an idea of the graduations that are part of the technique.  And, remember, this is just my first try, so hopefully I'll get a better effect as I get more experienced.
More details coming.

Endings

 

Say what you will, endings are hard.  I went to three groups this past week, all of which were the last meeting til the Fall.  Let's face it, schedules are erratic.  Given that and the fact that I just retired last week made the occasions especially poignant.  and telling.  We don't like endings.  At least, I don't.  They have a disconcerting way of shaking up your routine and if there's anything I love, it's a good routine.  I am a Taurus after all.  Stable.  Down to earth.  Maybe that's too much of a reliable thing, though, after a while.  Everyone neesd to do something to break it up  once in awhile.  And me, too, even as I am also trying to see how it would fit into my "usual" schedule.  How can I do something different, but not so different that I notice?  How can I accommodate my need for growth and newness without disrupting the status quo?  I can't.  Got to suffer the slings and arrows.  Got to face the doubting monster.  Got to brave the dizzying  heights and doldrums and panicky lows.  But, I know I will come out the other side.  Plenty of people have and I'm going to become one of them.  Like that ninety-year-old woman who jumped out of an airplane as part of her bucket list.  I may not do that, but I will do the things that matter to me and so challenge myself out of my comfort zone.  Out of that disorienting state of no routine to fall back on.  No routine to remind me who I am.  Or who I thought I was.  Because I'm not my routine.  I'm not my job.  I'm not even my sensibilities.  There is much possibility here.  And that possibility, that potential, that being-ness doesn't want to be jammed into a routine.  At least not right now.  Too much energy and light wants to escape.  I will use my routine like a handy stairway bannister.  And skip off the steps when I need to.