Friday, October 30, 2020

Brushstroke Tips


The painting knife in #5 refers to oil painters. In #6, I'm talking about the opposite pointed end of the brush. The purpose of these tips is to help us get us to #10—to guide our imaginations beyond the surface of the painting so we can live inside it. 

Good brush technique happens when you convey the most information with the least effort. But we don't want technique to be the subject. It's easy to make a painting look like paint; the viewer's awareness of the surface is a given. Painterly execution should invite the viewer beyond the brushstrokes.

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Previously: "Ten Tips for Better Brushstrokes"

4 comments:

Greg Preslicka said...

One thing I think about is make your brush strokes very intentional. Use their size shape, etc. to help describe what you are painting. That might be curved strokes to describe the curvature of an arm or dry-brush to suggest texture. I remember a point in my development as a painter realizing I needed to think more about my brush strokes. They were all similar in size shape and direction and they made my paintings boring.

Bevan said...

Guilty of that far too often.

CerverGirl said...

James, can you talk about signatures on paintings? Sometimes I try to make the color of it blend in. Most times I think I treat it like writing my name, but I want it to look clean, and visible without being gaudy. Thank you.

James Gurney said...

CerverGirl, check out this previous post: https://gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/2013/07/how-to-sign-your-artwork.html