Tips on Oil Painting - How to Use a Brush

A simple question: Is there a secret way to hold a brush so every stroke is a stroke of genius?

The answer is unfortunately no. It is best to hold the brush towards the end of the handle. This gives you a little more space between you and your canvas so you get a better overall view of what you are doing.

If you wish to have more control (for example, to paint details), you should hold the brush closer to the ferrule, i.e., the metal piece that holds the hairs of the brush in place. Other than that, there are no secrets. Just experiment and find your own way. And above all, practice and practice some more.

Brush-holding and brushstrokes brings up the question of style and technique: How do you develop style and technique? The answer is: Just practice and further don’t worry about it.

Your style is in your brain while technique building is a matter practice. The manner in which you become fluent in these techniques actually becomes a part of your unique style.

You can also learn a lot from the masters. Don’t copy their moves but, in time, give them your own twist.

To learn about brushstrokes do a great deal of experimentation. Hold the brushes in different ways, put the paint down in different ways, and observe what happens and repeat what works for you.

A brushstroke generally implies four separate actions:

* Cleaning the Brush - The main thing to remember here is to always pull your brush, never push it. This reduces wear and also shapes the hairs of the brush.

* Shaping the Brush - If you clean a brush correctly it should be shaped and ready to go. However, for delicate work (e.g., thin lines) you can chisel-shape the brush. That is, you hold the brush at a 45 degree angle to your horizontal palette, push down on it, and then slightly forward. The brush tip should now have a straight chisel-like edge.

* Loading the Brush - Now you can load the brush with paint in several ways. Shovel-loading a brush means lowering it onto your palette and pushing it at a low angle into a pile of paint. The paint is only on one side of the brush.

To tip-load a brush, you first smooth out the front of the paint pile. Then, you pull a chisel-shaped in a slight arch across the front edge of the pile. The result is a thin line of paint at the very tip of the brush.

If accuracy is of no concern you can pull-load your brush. Pull a brush at an angle through the upper layer of the paint pile. The more paint you want the deeper you should go into the pile. The brush-to-palette angle determines how far down the brush will be covered with paint.

Body-loading is a form of pull-loading but with a small brush-to-palette angle at a thin paint pile. The goal is to cover the entire brush head with paint.

* Application of the Paint - A shovel-loaded brush makes precise strokes of varying thicknesses and almost functions as a writing tool.

A tip-loaded brush can be held perpendicular to the canvas and, while lightly touching the canvas, create very thin lines. This is a good stroke to use for painting details.

A pull-loaded brush is useful to create run of the mill strokes that don’t require too much precision. You can use this to paint foliage, skies, and other large area that require stokes in many different directions.

A body-loaded brush is good for applying impasto strokes and heavy highlights. Impasto is a painting style in which the paint is laid-on very thickly and stands on top of the canvas.

Much more can be said about this but just remember, the ease with which you apply brushstrokes depends on how you load your brush.

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