I use brushes up to 3" or 4" to block in color and often maintain some of this as I work my way down in brush size to get final detail. This is partly my painting style but also prevents the painting from looking as though many hours were spent filling canvas with thousands of labored brush strokes. I don't consider viewer response "That painting must have taken a long time and effort" as a compliment.
Since I like to have brush strokes remain as evidence that a caring craftsman and not a machine or camera has put this painting together my brush strokes remain (so long as they achieve the loftier goal of true likeness and good painting). It's therefore a great deal of fun to get to the small stuff/strokes that make big/important contibutions to likeness. The corners of the mouth, highlights on the skin and in the eyes and so on. The contrast within the painting of 3" brush to little highlights in the corner of the eye make the smaller strokes look like gems.
I guess my point is that just as the play of warm and cool as well as light and dark are important contributions to an interesting painting so too is large and small shapes and brushstrokes.
It seems to me that it is easier to blend and soften the evidence of big brush strokes, color and value if the painting finally requires then it is to add same to a labored, flat or listless painting.
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