If I wanted to paint solid, flat, even areas of color without visible brushstrokes I would:
Start with a pre-gessoed smooth panel, or apply your own gesso and wet sand between coats.
Use a soft brush, like a synthetic squirrel tail. (Hint: You’ll need to use thinner paint with a softer brush)
Soft brush still too brushy? Don’t use a brush. Try a spray, roller, squeegee. No? Try pouring the paint or apply cut outs for flat shapes.
Try Golden fluid acrylics instead of heavy body paints.
Choose colors that are opaque, not transparent.
Practice your brush strokes so you land the brush softly, and lift just as smoothly, as if you were landing and taking off in plane. Hard stops and starts leave a lot of brush stroke marks.
Try an acrylic paint extender (slows drying time) and a paint leveler (smooths itself out) like Golden’s Self Leveling Gel.
Try using house paints instead of artist paints (less pigment power, but can be very “flat”)
Apply the paint in several light layers, instead of one thick one.
Lightly sand between coats
Alternate brush stroke directions
Didn’t solve the problem? Consider switching to enamels, or dang it all and paint on a computer.
Image above: Paul Reed, Barcelona 1969
You’re reading a V. Note, written by Ruthie V, the director of the Seattle Artist League. The League is an art school for the busy nurse, tech geek, and mom with a long lost art degree. We offer engaging online classes in drawing and painting. Join us! Find your class:https://www.seattleartistleague.com/product-category/d-online-classes/
Day 13: Op Art Create a piece of Op Art, inspired by Bridget Riley. This challenge was dizzying! Here are a few from the dozens that were submitted. These really caught my eye.
Yesterday I talked about how Carlos San Millan paints the effect of light so beautifully, and posted work by a painter he recommended: Emil Joseph Robinson. Today I’d like to make some points about one of his paintings, and how he has applied ideas of contrast to paint the effects of light. Take a look …
Pictured above: Patty Haller’s mother in the Smith & Vallee Gallery Patty Haller was invited to use the front studio space at the Seattle Artist League so she could prepare several large panels, including a 12′ painting for her January show “Growth Patterns” at the Smith & Vallee Gallery. Haller spent the fall and winter at the …
[image_with_animation image_url=”6237″ alignment=”” animation=”None” box_shadow=”none” max_width=”100%”] Raymond Pettibon Wiki: Raymond Pettibon (born Raymond Ginn; June 16, 1957) is an American artist who lives and works in New York City. Pettibon came to prominence in the early 1980s in the southern California punk rock scene, creating posters and album art mainly for groups on SST Records, owned and operated by his brother, Greg Ginn. …
How to Avoid Brush Strokes With Acrylic
If I wanted to paint solid, flat, even areas of color without visible brushstrokes I would:
Image above: Paul Reed, Barcelona 1969
You’re reading a V. Note, written by Ruthie V, the director of the Seattle Artist League. The League is an art school for the busy nurse, tech geek, and mom with a long lost art degree. We offer engaging online classes in drawing and painting. Join us! Find your class: https://www.seattleartistleague.com/product-category/d-online-classes/
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Yesterday I talked about how Carlos San Millan paints the effect of light so beautifully, and posted work by a painter he recommended: Emil Joseph Robinson. Today I’d like to make some points about one of his paintings, and how he has applied ideas of contrast to paint the effects of light. Take a look …
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Pictured above: Patty Haller’s mother in the Smith & Vallee Gallery Patty Haller was invited to use the front studio space at the Seattle Artist League so she could prepare several large panels, including a 12′ painting for her January show “Growth Patterns” at the Smith & Vallee Gallery. Haller spent the fall and winter at the …
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[image_with_animation image_url=”6237″ alignment=”” animation=”None” box_shadow=”none” max_width=”100%”] Raymond Pettibon Wiki: Raymond Pettibon (born Raymond Ginn; June 16, 1957) is an American artist who lives and works in New York City. Pettibon came to prominence in the early 1980s in the southern California punk rock scene, creating posters and album art mainly for groups on SST Records, owned and operated by his brother, Greg Ginn. …