Paint with a quiet brush

[Karin Wells]

A lot of beginners just don't put enough paint on their palette. Maybe they are afraid to "waste" it? If this is your problem, see the post on this forum that deals with saving paint. http://forum.portraitartist.com/show...save+and+paint

In the bottom layer(s) of a painting, paint should be thick, buttery and really cover the canvas...just like a large and overgenerous glob of mayonaise covering a slice of bread.

One of the clues that you don't have enough paint on your brush is that your brush makes a lot of noisy scrubbing sounds. I had a teacher once who insisted that we all "paint with a quiet brush" (and this means that your brush will be loaded).

[Steven Sweeney]

I've always had this difficulty, using too little paint, not because I'm frugal (more spendthrift, actually) but perhaps out of the tentativeness of uncertainty and lack of confidence. I've explained myself occasionally by saying that when I made mistakes, I didn't want them to be big, messy ones. Unfortunately, the "mistake" of using too little paint affects the integrity of the entire work. One of my instructors used to walk behind me and stop and, almost in exasperation, come up like a surrogate conscience and whisper "Use more paint." When I finally "got it", I was thrilled with the new ability to move the paint around, blend edges, work new colour and value into an area. An old adage in the business is to "paint like a millionaire". I believe it's David Leffel who says that your brush should almost never touch the canvas, meaning there should always be a good measure of paint between the two.

[Mike McCarty]

I've heard it said that "you're not painting until you're painting into paint."

[Susan Ballinger]

I must admit, I'm confused.

I'm trying to read everything I can on the correct methods to use when painting since I don't have the time or money right now to take classes. I have read that I should paint fat over lean, to ensure that the bottom layers dry first to avoid cracking later on. I have also read that you should use many thin layers to create luminosity.

But now you're saying I should start with thick layers of paint? Maybe I'm misunderstanding something? I would really appreciate it if someone could help me to understand this better!

Also, could anyone recommend a good book I can pick up at the library that would fully explain the process with good pictures and details?

Thanks!

Susan

[Steven Sweeney]

But now you're saying I should start with thick layers of paint? Maybe I'm misunderstanding something? I would really appreciate it if someone could help me to understand this better!

It is confusing, part of the hazard of internet site-length bits and pieces. No, I wasn't (and I don't think others were, but they'll pipe up if I'm misrepresenting them) suggesting "thick" painting in the sense of impasto. What I've always struggled against myself and what I think we're talking about here is lifting one brushload of paint from the palette and expecting it to cover 100 square inches of canvas. That's what's being referred to as reducing your paint application to "scratching" the pigment on. The problem with that sort of application is that you've gone to all the trouble of looking, seeing, assessing, mixing, and applying -- but after you start scrubbing the paint on way too "parsimoniously", all that information is lost.

One of the masters of the classical realism school, Stephen Gjertson, goes through TONS of paint on a piece, but because he keeps those applications thin (and he uses sable brushes), you'd think the paint layer was mica-thin. It isn't; it's archivally thick.

I have to mentally go through the exercise of picking up a brushload of paint, applying it and moving it around, and as soon as I can see the canvas or underpainting through my application (assuming that's not an effect I want -- sometimes it IS), I go back and pick up another brushload. Also, if you're going to try to blend two colours or value areas together after application, you simply have to have a good supply (not a toothpaste stripe by any means, but good coverage) in order to have some malleability to the paint surface to accomplish that zipping together of edges.

Steven

[Susan Ballinger]

Thank you Steven! That does clear things up. I'm afraid that I, too, am guilty of painting with a loud brush a lot of the time!

Susan

[Karin Wells]

Using a LOT of paint in your first layer still conforms to the "fat over lean" rule.

Paint directly from the tube is considered "lean." ("Underpainting white" is really really lean) and this will go on "quietly" only if you use enough paint.

Adding oil (medium) makes paint "fat." Therefore, DON'T ADD ANY OIL to your bottom (thick) layer of paint.

[Joan Breckwoldt]

Ohhhhhh, now I get it. I never understood exactly 'fat over lean'. I, too, thought it meant to paint thick layers over thin layers, having nothing to do with adding anything to the paint. Another thing to experiment with . . .

Thanks,
Joan