Artists often collect many different types of brushes.
Landscape oil paintings take practice to do well. Plein air landscape involves painting outdoors and quickly rendering paintings on site. Alla prima, or direct painting is a variation of plein air in which artists apply opaque pigment as a first and final layer. Studio artists often paint in thin transparent layers, allowing each to dry before applying another. Learn some techniques artists use in both styles of landscape painting and apply them to your artwork.
Brush Strokes
Brushes are the most used tools in landscape painting. Wet brushing means applying paint thinned with painting medium with a solvent-wetted brush onto a dry or wet surface. Load the brush full of paint and apply it smoothly on the canvas. Paint all the areas on your canvas that have the same color then change brushes and paint other areas with another color. Keep shapes and colors simple and well defined. Add details after you have worked out the basic structure of your paintings. Alla prima, or direct painters, usually choose thick paint. Indirect, or studio-style painters, usually thin out the pigments with solvent and artist oils. Dry brushing is useful for indicating movement or texture. Pick out a dry brush and grab a small amount of pigment. Drag your solvent-free brush across the canvas to create bark texture, or a rough water surface.
Palette Knife
Artists use palette knives in painting as well as in blending paints on palettes. Load a palette knife full of pigment, then press down and smear on the canvas to create sheets of pigment. Palette knife smearing works well for water reflections, sides of mountains and road surfaces. You shape the form of the subject without fussing with detail. Use palette knifes to create bold, open landscapes. Simple shapes translate well in landscape painting.
The thin edge of the palette knife is useful for marking vertical lines such as rock crevices or grasses. Hold the palette knife perpendicular to the canvas and pull down or upward to create a crisp line of pigment.
Blending
Artists sometimes use materials that might surprise you. Blend or soften edges of oil paint together using paper towels or cotton rags. Put a dab of white paint onto a piece of paper towel and rub it onto a still-wet area to mute bold colors. Rub over dried areas to add a haze-like effect.
The humble toothbrush is an effective tool for creating sprays of distant wildflowers, or gravel on a pathway. Hold your thumb over a toothbrush dipped in thinned pigment and run it over the surface of the bristles. The fine spray splatters onto your canvas. Layer one color over another to add complexity to the work. Some artists get frustrated with the tools available and use their fingers to blend, smudge and even add thick dabs of paint directly from the tube onto the canvas. Using your hands gives immediacy and control, but repeated exposure to solvents is not advisable.
