DRY BRUSH: DETAILS WITH SLIGHT OF HAND

With quick swipes, dabs, scrapes and strokes, many quantities of textural shapes can be defined. Leaves(right), flower petals, blades of grass, or the surfaces of stones, bark, dirt, water, clouds, etc. can be displayed. The left close-up shows the grass detail of the middle insert below. A dampened, squeezed and split water color brush or a bristle brush, easily strokes the needed forms. See the Dry Brush section. Here are some other examples.

  Rough, linear dragged mountains, stony ground, streaked sky, and grassed forground are combinations of bristle and water color brushes. Hues are orange/blue complements blended with each other and modified by nuetrals.

  Wood slabs, grass, leaves, rocks, stones and fence are defined by dry brush here. Also included are sponge leaf base and smooth blended sky.

  Here, rough textures are concentrated in the painting s foreground. White bark, leaves, broad stroked ground and wild vegetation contrast against a smooth blended sky and mountainous background. Primary color are modified by gray values.

SPONGES ARE SHALL WE SAY, "GROOVY" SIMPLICITY?

Sponges are really wonderful natural examples of "positive and negative space"! A natural or man made substance, it has hundreds of air cells surrounded by the fiber which contains them. The fibers print leaving the image of the open shapes. From very tight to very coarse, the sponge is a convenient tool for quick imaging.

  This large painting began with a smooth brushed background, forground, tree trunk and leaf areas. Palette texture added bark, dry brush detailed the foreground and fine and medium sponges defined leaves.

  The entire background was sponge painted in orange/blue complements with tints and shades. The bird, brush blended was accented with palette knife. Dry brush completed the foreground.

  The excitement of working with the tools discussed here and on the Tools Page is first, the fun of experimentation and discovery, and second, the satisfaction of successful application. Practice with each is essential, and one should always be open to the unexpected "happenings" with them that occur, which often suggests and effects new conceptions. Give them a good try and discover new insights for yourself.