Abandoned
One of the disadvantages of ‘wet on wet’ painting is the difficulty in drawing very fine lines onto the wet layer of paint. One method I employed for a few years of painting was using a large brush and suggest details. Now I am trying to control the fine lines, and the ‘short cut’ of the large brush is too generic for what I’m trying to do now. The large brush technique has a ‘rubber stamp’ feel to it, in that the shape and texture of the brush is recognisable in different parts of the painting. Don’t get me wrong, I think the ‘hand of the artist’, as revealed by brush strokes, is very important in a painting. I think this, because we live in a machine age and whilst there is great art been produced by machines (which was never possible before) there is also art which is hand made and should look so.
As a landscape artist, I am trying to create a world into which the viewer likes to travel. For the most part, it has to be imaginary with recognisable bits, so the traveller feels ‘at home’. One of the bits is very fine lines, especially in trees. I have been scratching the paint surface with a sharp knife to simulate fine lines and I’m still looking at other methods. This time I dropped blobs of very liquid paint onto the surface and used a pen to draw the paint into lines. It was reasonably effective as you will see in the trees on the right in this painting.
Here is the video of the process. There is more info about this painting in the previous post here.
PictureS 
Hi Liam,
Have you tried using the background to define the tree, e.g. Pushing the blue background against the tree thus narrowing. I’m waffling 🙂
You are doing great the way you have done it, even with a limited palette! Well done.
Been there, done that 🙂
My art teacher rosemary Bedell used such a light touch she could progress so far with wet paint without picking up the colour underneath. I found it hard but it is coming to me slowly.
I commend you on working so quickly and achieving great results.
Let us know how you get on.
I sure will. I’m committed to sharing the process.
I liked how the trees at the front were created. Well done
Thanks Shay.
I would be interested in seeing a sailboat style painting…if you’re open for requests.
I spend a lot of time in the fields and woods where I live. It appears to be a featureless landscape, far from the tourist beauty spots. But my family have lived here for hundreds of years and this is has a lot to do with my interest in this landscape. I only occasionally stray off this path.
Fair enough, I do appreciate your work. And I love how you document. Anyways, I will keep viewing. Keep up the good work.
Thanks again Shay.
This is beautiful, like always.
It’s always a great pleasure to watch your videos and I have to say that I enjoyed the music very much as well. 🙂
Thank you Geralin. Do you like Bach? I hope you do. The latest post has a Choral piece some people don’t like.
You are very welcome.
Yes, I indeed do! I enjoyed it nevertheless. 🙂
yes, i will like to know that technique that you don’t ‘pick up’ the paint under. I just enter this site and I didn’t see anywhere were did you explain how to do it. may be you can help me. thanks.
I would love to help you. Picking up paint happens when the paint on the brush is ‘drier’ than the paint on the canvas. The first layers should have less medium and more solvent (which evaporates quickly). If the later layers have more medium the paint will tend to stick to the canvas. I use Liquin as a medium and this will tend to get ‘tacky’ in the under layers of paint which reduces paint lifting. Does this help you?
Hi Liam! Thank you for visiting my blog “Reflections” and liking my post “The Art of Veil Painting …” … I have enjoyed spending a few moments with this post on your blog, and watching your creative process in time lapse. Thank you for sharing it and showing what’s possible. I plan to do something similar with my latest veil painting. .. Your work is beautiful, and I’m going to follow your blog for further inspiration. Be well … Dorothy 🙂
Thank you Dorothy. The watercolour washes are great. I look forward to your new work.