Blondheim Art Painting Exercise

8 1/2 x 11 inches
oil on index paper

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Painters Tip

Now that I am on my own again and not part of the Daily Painters Group, I can show some interesting studies and exercises that may be useful for painters.

The above is an example of an exercise I give to my workshop students, and to myself. It is a brushwork exercise. It makes a pretty cool looking abstract painting too. :>) It is one of the best things I do for myself. I block off a sheet of card stock ( index Paper) into 9 blocks. It is important to keep the paint wet. For oils you can block off all of the blocks at one time because they will stay wet. For acrylic or water based mediums you will need to do one block at a time. The object is to practice wet on wet brush strokes, putting light paint on dark under painting and dark paint on light under painting, or in this case a mid- value on dark and light paint. I stress the importance of working wet on wet.

The object is to paint as cleanly as possible, leaving the under painting undisturbed and the top paint strokes as clean as possible. After the paint dries , punch holes in one end and put it in a three hole binder. When it is dry, you will be able to analyse your strokes. Looking at the exercise will tell you how much paint load it took to keep clean undisturbed strokes on top. It will tell you where you are digging into the bottom layer with the brush and when you are painting with too little paint on the brush.

Do this exercise at least once a week. Save all of the exercises and date them. After a few weeks you will start to see great improvement in your brushwork, especially for alla prima oil painting. You can do all kinds of strokes, depending on what you may be painting at any given time. For example, if you are doing floral work, practice petals, leaves and stems.