Variable dark roughness contrasts against light skin tones; dark and light textural patches surround smooth fabric; purple and yellow tones blend delicately together.

  Two complements-red/green and yellow/purple in smooth blends, come forward from heavy, vertical strokes of a palette background. Light grays mute intensities of both.

  Palette painting overlaps base colors to bring out contrasty hues you'd like to touch. Here, orange/blue and magenta/green blend with each other and with other neutrals as well.

  Orange and 2 blues, blended with gray values, focus attention to the center intensities. A smooth brayer application is the base for heavily applied palette color and texture.

  This egg nest began with a palette knife white textural layer. It was overlapped by many tinted values of dry brush strokes. The center was left smooth.

  Curved palette waves suggest water motion while soft, patchy wisps stroke the sky. Orange and blue, blended with gray values allude to a cloudy, dim day.

  Orange/blue and red/green complements team nicely in this snow bound palette application. Heavily built-up clouds merge against a smoothly blended blue tinted base.

  Warm orange/blue tints, shades and blends provide a variety of color and texture contrasts. Soft fur comes forward against textured browned mountains.

BRAYERS--QUICK, EFFICIENT PERFORMERS

  Here's an unusual blend of transparent and opague media with patchy areas of brayered blue tempera overpainted with soft, transparent blue watercolors. Foreground and background are one.

  With strips of tagboard, sharp edges made a stencil for brayer and sponged areas to be smooth or texture painted within. Turquoise tints, shades and grays have a nice arrangement of distances.

  Big brayer and small sponge contrast background areas. Soft blue brush tints and shades complement the young girl's composure. The large splashes of color push focus towards the center.