One Stroke Painting Guide
Painting using one stroke at a time requires an understanding of how the final product will look. As an artist, your plan of action includes being aware of the varieties of approaches available with this style of painting. Perhaps you may choose to utilize a variety of types of single brushstrokes, or maybe the arrangement of the strokes on the canvas is left to chance.
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Applying Paint
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For one-stroke painting, oil paint often provides better texture and luminescence. Use a small, flat brush to apply the paint. A brush with stiffer bristles gives you more control over the brushstroke. Different brushstroke directions may be used for different parts of the painting, or all of the brushstrokes may be in the same direction. It is also possible, with oil paint, to make one to three brushstrokes at one time with a brush loaded with paint. Consider the nature of the brushstroke: the brush can move in repeating motions such as in curved or squiggly lines.
The Pointilist Approach
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In pointillism, artists draw a scene onto a canvas and then fill in color, including shades and highlights, with small dabs of paint applied with small, round brushes. One way of accomplishing this technique is to make multiple dabs of color while leaving space in between them. Then you would make a similar array of dots in the same area with other colors until the area was filled. Color schemes would be designed for each area of color. The color variation would depend on the object being painted, and the nature of the shading and highlighting of that object.
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Van Gogh and Impressionism
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The founder of one-stroke painting is Vincent Van Gogh. His style of painting was not considered an accepted way of painting during his time period. Van Gogh used large globs of paint applied in different directions to create bright, dynamic scenes and portraits that have inspired artists and laypeople alike. The impressionists followed in his footsteps and created works of art using this same one-stroke painting technique in combination with the pointilist idea of using different shades and colors to bring interest to shapes and forms. Impressionism then led the way for modern abstraction.
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