Monday, Week 17: 7:33 am - One Brush Challenge, Oil on Linen (04/05/2020)

Welcome to the start of a new week and this week we're going to talk about brushes! The way we're going to get to know our tools better is by doing a super simple exercise - painting with a single brush. Throughout this week, we're going to use one brush to do the whole painting. I don't use solvent and I barely use medium, so what I have to so while I'm painting is wipe the excess paint off my brush constantly. But the reality is that there's always going to be some paint in my brush and it tends to contaminate my mixes. Hence the grayish tendency of my painting. Why don't I use solvent? Because first and foremost it is terrible for us and it eats up our brushes. I am completely conscious that I'm sacrificing a ton of expressive possibilities by deciding to not use solvent and to scarcely use medium. But I'm breathing better!!! So for today, our one brush is a natural hair, hog bristle, round brush. Specifically a da Vinci maestro 2 no. 7 round brush. I'm stating the specific brush for information's sake, but what's important is the size and shape not the brand. As you all know I'm brand agnostic. So pay no attention to the brand if you can't find it or afford it. It is in the end, of very little importance. By determining that this particular size and shape of brush is going to be our only tool, we will get to know it's capabilities more profoundly. We could do this with every single tool we have, and we can do it with not just a single painting, but a month's worth of painting! The empathetic kinship with our tools and our materials will ultimately create the necessary bond to translate paint into a form of language; into a medium that we use to not only express to others but to attempt to explain things to ourselves.



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