Pure Colors

• To achieve luminosity in your painting, apply color in the purest form possible. Instead of mixing paint on a palette, blend the colors directly on your canvas. Also, you should avoid using black, minimize your use of the earth tones and focus on painting with primary colors.
  
  

Pointillism

• Pointillism is the technique in which you place tiny dots of color next to one another over a white background. The eye fools the viewer into thinking that the colors are mixed. For example, when blue dots are carefully applied beside red dots, the viewer will see purple. The intensity of the primary colors blue and red combined with the light-reflecting white create a sense of luminosity in the painting. The French Impressionist painter Georges Seurat was a master at this technique.
  
  

Acrylic Medium

• If you are painting in acrylics, you can add luminosity to your work by adding an acrylic medium to your paint. Opalescent and gloss medium both serve this purpose. You can also purchase medium that contains thousands of minuscule glass beads that are almost undetectable, yet they reflect light, creating luminosity, particularly when transparent paints are used.
  
  

Varnish

• A coat of high-gloss varnish over your completed and dried painting will make your painting appear to be more luminous. Artists have used this technique for many centuries. The application of glossy varnish is useful when painting with either oil paints or acrylics. It will also protect your artwork.