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The Layering Mistake That’s Making Your Abstract Art Look Flat (And How to Fix It)

You know that feeling when you’re standing in front of a painting that just isn’t working, so you reach for more paint?

Most abstract painters have been there. And most of us have learned the hard way: adding another layer doesn’t save a painting that’s lost. It buries it.

Here’s the thing nobody tells you, there’s a version of layering that suffocates a painting, and a version that transforms it. The difference isn’t talent or training. It’s intention. And you don’t need an art degree to develop it. You just need to see how painters who figured this out actually worked, and then steal what fits your practice.

In Episode 156, Jodie walks through how five artists used layering techniques in completely different ways, and pulls out exactly what you can bring into your own studio today. If your paintings have been feeling flat, this one’s for you.

If you’ve been struggling with overworking a canvas, Episode 103 on texture techniques is a great companion: https://jodieking.com/episode-103-the-texture-toolbox-tips-on-how-to-elevate-your-art-with-texture/

The Layering Problem Nobody Talks About

Before getting into the artists, Jodie names something most painters won’t say out loud: sometimes layering is panic. You don’t know what else to do with a painting, so you throw more paint at it. And instead of saving it, you suffocate the life right out of what was working underneath.

This episode is about replacing that panic habit with intention. Because abstract art that has real depth, the kind that makes a viewer stop and look closer, doesn’t come from adding more. It comes from knowing how to add, and when to stop.

Gerhard Richter: Destruction as Design

Richter didn’t just paint over what was underneath. He revealed it. Using large trowels on wet paint, he would drag color across the canvas so the layers moved together and fragments of what came before broke through the surface. The destruction became the painting.

The closer you get to a Richter, the more nuance you see. Fragments of previous work living right there on the surface. He allowed those remnants to become part of the design rather than covering them up completely.

Jodie’s own studio toolkit for this: a sander, baby wipes on tacky paint, palette knives, and trowels on wet surfaces. The idea is the same whether you’ve been painting for two years or twenty. Give the layer underneath somewhere to breathe back through. You’re not hiding your mistakes. You’re making them part of the work.

Mark Rothko: Transparent Glazes That Create Atmospheric Depth

There is a category of depth that transparent layering can create that opaque paint simply cannot touch. Rothko built his color through stacked transparent glazes, using a medium to make the paint nearly see-through. One glaze over another over another.

The result is that soft, atmospheric quality you feel when you stand in front of his work. It cannot be achieved by laying down flat opaque color. It has to be built.

Two ways to try this in your own studio:

• Use paint labeled “transparent” directly as a layer
• Thin your existing paint with a medium until it becomes translucent, then apply it across the full surface

A glaze adds something to a painting without making it busier. It’s subtle, almost like a whisper was added to the canvas. Stack glaze over glaze and the depth that builds is genuinely hard to achieve any other way.

Van Gogh: Intentional Impasto That Reads as Confident

Van Gogh’s wheat field paintings don’t immediately read as layered work. But look closely and the evidence is everywhere. He laid down a foundation first, then went back in with thick, expressive impasto marks on top. The texture isn’t decoration. It reads as intentional because it was built on something else.

This is good news especially if you’re self-taught: you don’t need perfect technique for impasto to work. You need patience and slow-drying paint. Use oil, or add a retarding medium to acrylic to extend the open time. Then leave some of that thick, raised surface. Don’t smooth it away. The mark-making is where your voice lives.

For more on developing your own mark-making identity, Episode 23 on the best tools for abstract art is worth a listen: https://jodieking.com/episode-23-tools-to-create-abstract-art/ 

Cy Twombly: The Power of Leaving Things Unresolved

Twombly worked through construction and deconstruction at the same time. He would build marks up, then use an eraser to work back through them. Ghost traces. Partial lines. Things left unresolved on purpose. And that incompleteness is exactly what makes the viewer lean in.

Jodie’s challenge to you: the next time you’re tempted to keep going until everything is fully resolved, stop. Come back to it. When the viewer can’t quite fully read what’s there, they participate in the art differently. That engagement is something you can give your work deliberately. It’s not unfinished. It’s generous.

If perfectionism is something you fight in your own practice, Episode 111 on hidden studio habits that sabotage creativity is essential: https://jodieking.com/episode-111-the-hidden-studio-habits-that-sabotage-your-creativity/

Julie Mehretu: Layering Through Opposites

Jodie also highlights contemporary artist Julie Mehretu, whose 2024 work uses mixed media layering in a way that’s completely accessible even if you’ve never tried it. Moretto adds architectural plans, city grids, maps, and gestural abstraction all within the same surface. It’s the dance of opposites Jodie talks about regularly, and here it’s happening through layering as the vehicle.

The invitation: try it. Even a piece of newspaper, a map, or a printed page under a layer of paint can completely change what the surface does. You don’t have to commit. Just play and see what happens.

Three Questions to Ask Before You Add Another Layer

Before reaching for more paint, run through these:

1. Is this getting deeper, or is it just getting busier? Depth is what you’re after. Busyness is the sign you’re panicking.

2. Is the energy increasing, or is it decreasing? If you can feel the painting losing life as you add, that’s information. Trust it.

3. Am I painting out of fear? Not the normal fugly-phase discomfort. The kind where you’ve been adding layers for twenty passes and you honestly have no idea why. That’s the moment to stop.

The good news: even a painting buried under too many layers can often come back. Sand back. Glaze over. Reveal something underneath. The painting isn’t over just because it got complicated. And if this episode made you want to try layering differently for the first time, Jodie wants to hear what happens. 🎨

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Resources Mentioned

• Ready to push your work to the next level? Join Jodie at an in-person Honest Art® Workshop: https://jodieking.com/workshop
• Curious about Studio Elite? Next cohort starts September 2026: https://www.jodiekingart.com/studioelite
• Join the Honest Art® Society: coaching, critiques, and community: https://www.jodiekingart.com/has
• Episode 103: The Texture Toolbox: https://jodieking.com/episode-103-the-texture-toolbox-tips-on-how-to-elevate-your-art-with-texture/
• Episode 23: Best Tools for Creating Abstract Art: https://jodieking.com/episode-23-tools-to-create-abstract-art/ 
• Episode 111: The Hidden Studio Habits That Sabotage Your Creativity: https://jodieking.com/episode-111-the-hidden-studio-habits-that-sabotage-your-creativity/
• Have a question for Jodie? Ask it here: https://forms.gle/hxrVu4oL4PVCKwZm6
• Leave a review on your favorite podcast platform; it helps more artists find the show!
• Watch this full episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMquJfuMsSg0fr46BRdia1cWd-81GThzF

Watch on YouTube

• 🎬 New to Honest Art®? Start Here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDRbtjrfQyOs
• 🎨 Painting Techniques: Best Of: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLW9oZj4G3KkA

Learn from Jodie:

• 🎨 The Color Course for Rebels: https://www.jodiekingart.com/ccfr
• 🎨 ArtBiz for Rebels: https://www.jodiekingart.com/artbizforrebels
• 🎨 Honest Art® Society: https://www.jodiekingart.com/has
• 🎨 Studio Elite Mastermind: https://www.jodiekingart.com/studioelite

Jodie’s favorite resources:

• ✍🏻 Free guide: 5 things they don’t teach you in art school: https://jodieking.com/work-with-me#free-rescources.0
• ✍🏻 Get Jodie’s top 10 studio tools: https://www.jodiekingart.com/10-studio-tools-opt-in
• ✍🏻 Free guide: how to hang and wire a painting: https://www.jodiekingart.com/how-to-hang-a-painting
• 🤹🏼‍♀️ Guided Meditation for Creative Clarity: https://www.jodiekingart.com/guided-meditation
• ✍🏻 See Jodie’s favorite things: https://www.amazon.com/shop/jodie_king_

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