14 Mar A Beginner’s Guide to Brushwork, Lesson #19

Today we are moving on to our next project in our brushwork series, which is lesson #19 in the book, Brushwork Elementary Brush-Forms by Marion Hudson. This is part of our homeschool handicraft curriculum. Brush lesson #19 is called a Lesson on Ducklings and Pond, and since there is not much cuter than some little, yellow ducklings, we are excited to get started!

If you’ve been following along with us in this brushwork series, you will find much of this very familiar, as we covered similar brush strokes and animals in A Beginner’s Guide to Brushwork, Lesson #19, which was a Lesson on Chickens.

Redrawing the Design on Our Grid Paper

Your grid paper is probably going to be different than that in the book. I say this because I looked everywhere for grid paper that was similar to the book yet never found it. So, we settled for what we could find. I would estimate that the grid paper in the book is about 1/2″ squares. Our grid paper is twice that, with 1″ square grid paper. As well, our grid paper is probably a different size overall. Because of this, the pattern in the book does not translate well onto my 1″ grid paper, so I redrew the design with a few adjustments, as you can see below. You may find it helpful to refer to this grid while working on this lesson.

Materials Needed

• The book, Brushwork, Elementary Brush-Forms by Marion Hudson (also available online HERE)
• 1″ absorbent grid paper
• Watercolor paints (green, yellow, and brown)
• Watercolor Paintbrush, we used a Princeton Velvetouch , round size 6 or 8
• A glass of water (not used for drinking)
• A small plate for mixing paint and water
• A napkin to dry the brush

Happy Handicrafts Video: A Beginner’s Guide to Brushwork, Lesson #19

The Process

This lesson required three paint colors – yellow, green and blue. We could have probably done it with two, by mixing the blue and yellow to make green, but since we had blue paint, we kept it simple and used all three. We like to start with the lightest color and work to the darkest so that we do not muddy our water and potentially cause discoloration of the lighter colors. This is where my grid comes in very handy. By counting the squares, you can determine exactly where each little duckling should go.

We started with yellow, working along the top of our page. The bodies of the ducklings are made with two horizontal overlapping brushforms. We used a size 6 round brush for this, but in our practice sessions, we found that a size 8 round gives a better, fuller shape. The ducklings’ heads are made with a small stroke of the brush, just as we did for the chickens in lesson #12.

The grass and pond are made with light strokes of the brush point.

Come Join Us!

If you’re just finding us, you can get started with our first brushwork lesson and advance according to your skill. All of our videos are stored on YouTube at Happy Handicrafts. You don’t have to start with brushwork – we have paper sloyd, needle-felting, crochet, and more. Go explore and choose which playlist will be the best for you and your family! We’ll see you there!