Everyone knows that painters use brushstrokes. But did you know that each brushstroke is important to the success of the painting? Brushstrokes can be thought of as the handwriting of an artist; every artist uses different brushstrokes, and brushstrokes can even show how skilled an artist is. Some artists paint so smoothly that no brushstrokes can be seen.
Norman Rockwell’s work is a good example of this. If you look closely at a Rockwell painting, it’s almost impossible to determine that he used a brush. The surface of the painting is as smooth as glass, and the colors are perfectly blended. You can picture the artist gently stroking the painting with a fine brush to blend everything perfectly.
For comparison, look at a painting by Vincent Van Gogh. Not only can every brushstroke be clearly seen, but also it looks as if he actually used his brush to carve the picture out of paint. Each stroke follows the line of the subject. There is little or no blending; instead, Van Gogh dipped his brush in a color appropriate to the area he was painting (dark for shadows, light for highlights) and laid the paint down without going back to touch it again.
For some reason, the public often equates loose painting with sloppiness. A watercolor teacher who works in a very free style commented that one student said he joined her class because he couldn’t draw and thought her style would be a good one to copy. He didn’t realize that expressive brushstrokes are based on sound drawing ability. Good artists literally draw with the paint. Every stroke counts. The artist must have the right size stroke, of the right value and color, in the right place.
Artist Emile Gruppe commented that as a young man he had the good fortune to watch the great Robert Henri paint. “As a kid, I’d be amazed at the way he did a head. One stroke for an eye and Bang! Then another for the chin. He was a master! And when his pictures were finished, they’d look more like the person than the person!”
There seem to be two basic kinds of painters. Some like to work in line, and others prefer to work in mass. Some, especially those who draw very well, tend to work with lines, enjoying the process of drawing the details of a scene. If they look at a pile of leaves, they see the leaves first and work them into a pile. Others prefer to work in mass, seeing their subject in terms of large units and big relationships. These artists look at the pile first, and use texture to get the effect without even painting the leaves.
For each of these two kinds of painters, different kinds of brushstrokes are important. The linear painters tend to use smaller brushes that allow great control, and each brushstroke is small and careful. Their style is often referred to as tight painting. Painters who work in mass among painters, often use big, flat brushes that let them lay down a lot of paint at one time.
If an artist is very, very good he or she may be proficient in both tight and loose painting. For a good example, we can return to Norman Rockwell.
Everyone knows about his fine, tight paintings which adorned magazine covers for years. But when Rockwell felt his work was getting too tight, he broke a piece off a roofing shingle and used it as a brush to make fast, loose paintings for practice.
If you are an artist who would like to loosen up, this is a good method. You can also paint with Q-tips, toothpicks, sticks, toothbrushes, and your fingers. When you go back to using a brush, you may find that this kind of extreme painting practice helps you make more interesting brushstrokes.
By Kay Sluterbeck, AAPJ Columnist