Brushstrokes
by Stefan Baumann
Understanding how to use a brush and how to apply a brushstroke are the first steps in learning to paint. The most important indicator in determining whether one will learn to paint well is learning how to hold the brush properly and how to move it effectively.
Painting is a specific discipline with rules and procedures. It is not something that artists can do willy-nilly and think that they are creating great artwork. Great paintings are not created by drawing a subject by holding a brush like a pencil. Although recreating a subject is the intention of the artist, rendering or drawing with the brush is physically different from painting with a brush. Rendering is done with the fingers and wrist; painting is done from the shoulder with the whole arm moving as one unit. One’s fingers and wrist do not move when one is painting.
In the act of painting, the brush is held toward the back, away from the hair. It rests on the side of the middle finger, held in place by the pressure of the thumb. Each brushstroke has a beginning and an ending. Once the brush is applied to the canvas, the brush is not lifted until the stroke is completed. Every swipe of the brush has meaning, purpose, and direction. Each stoke must have within it the correct value and color and be applied with a hard or soft edge. The painting becomes like confetti, pieces of paint that make up the whole. The pressure should be consistent throughout the painting and every stroke sensitively caresses the paint to stay on top of the surface. There should be a similar amount of paint on the canvas at the end of the stroke as the beginning. And, the overall consistency of paint is apparent from the edge of the canvas to the other edge. In painting, the focus of the artist is to join with the brush and paint, placing each brushstroke, one after the other on the canvas, creating the artist’s interpretation of the subject with his personal signature within each brushstroke on the painting.
The next time you want to paint, do more than render the subject with the brush. Paint it! Fall in love with the act of placing paint on your canvas, feeling the buttery consistency of the paint as it moves with your brush, and become aware of every brushstroke as you are painting.
