Mastering Brushstrokes - Invisible Brushstrokes (Part 1 of 6)

"One of the best painting courses I’ve taken. And I have subscribed quite a few. This instructor is incredibly knowledgeable. She provides detailed explanations and thoroughly explains the foundations of the concepts." - Kate H.

"Wow! It's a full on semester art class." - Don C

"The best watercolour tutorials I've found on Skillshare!" - Beth C.

Brushstrokes are at the core of being an artist, and an individual's brushwork is one of the things that sets them apart from other artists. Using my approachable, easy-to-understand teaching method and lots of hands-on activities, I break down historic and contemporary brushwork into twenty-two unique brushstrokes from traditional to unconventional. 

This six-part course covers twenty-two individual brushstrokes. They are broken down by style of application and include a brief history, examples of how they're used in masterpieces, visual demonstrations, and student practice exercises. By combining technical learning with visual and hands-on examples, students gain a thorough understanding of each brushstroke variation. At the end of the course, students are challenged to create a simplified painting using five-strokes selected from the course material.

Note: Demonstrations are given in both watercolor and oil paint. Acrylic painters simply have to apply the knowledge depending on how they use that medium, whether thick (like oil) or thin (like watercolor).

This course is broken into six parts:

Part One: Invisible Brushstrokes - https://skl.sh/3iDvHN2

Part Two: Directly Painted Brushstrokes - https://skl.sh/2BKE74z

Part Three: Light & Heavy Brushstrokes -https://skl.sh/2CAQpwI

Part Four: Broken Brushstrokes -https://skl.sh/3hRlag2

Part Five: Alternative Brushstrokes - https://skl.sh/2C8FUAG

Part Six: Putting It All Together - https://skl.sh/3g4BWXL

PART ONE: INVISIBLE BRUSHSTROKES

This section of the course begins with a discussion on important foundational painting topics such as dilution, brush load, viscosity, and absorption. No matter what paint you work in, understanding these factors will help you better understand your paint and therefore have more success when learning about the various brushstrokes. 

After the foundational information, we explore what I call invisible brushstrokes - those that don’t normally reveal bristle lines or even seam lines between strokes. Brushstrokes where it's hard to determine the outright use of a brush. These strokes include:

• Glazing
• Blending
• Gradients
• Pouring

Often, these are brushstrokes used for the base of a painting.