BRUSHWORK EXERCISES, PART 04

BLOCK-IN WITH GRADATIONS, VARIATIONS ON TOP

This is actually one of my two main approaches to plein air painting, so not so much of a stretch for me, but still a stretch for many of my students. In order to make this approach work, you need to be able to lay color on top of wet color cleanly. This you can do by lowering your brush angle so that you are pulling the brush parallel to the canvas, allowing the paint to pull out of the brush as it grips with the surface below, and keeping the bristles of the brush from digging into the still-wet layer of paint.