05 Jul A Beginner’s Guide to Brushwork, Lesson #3

Have you been following us in our brushwork series? If you are a homeschooling family who follows the Charlotte Mason method, this is for you! There are so many benefits to learning brushwork – and we’re just getting started! We are working through the book, Brushwork Elementary Brush-Forms by Marion Hudson, a series of 30 lessons, teaching the basics of brushwork. Today we will be doing brushwork lesson #3, which teaches oblique brush forms.

Materials Needed

• The book, Brushwork, Elementary Brush-Forms by Marion Hudson (also available online HERE)
• 1″ absorbent grid paper
• Watercolor paints
• Watercolor Paintbrush, we used Princeton Velvetouch round size 6 or round size 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 3

The main purpose of this drill is to learn to create the oblique brush forms from all different directions. Although, I suppose, it would be easier to simply turn the paper as you paint in each direction, I do see the value in developing the flexibility of learning the skill from all directions. As you practice, you’ll probably notice that you do better with brush forms in certain directions. For example, it’s probably obvious, but I was struggling with the bottom right side. But no worries – this only shows you where you need to practice!

Are you finding brushwork lesson #3 enjoyable? Make sure that you are practicing between lessons so that your skill can develop. Skills don’t develop by doing things once – they grow by doing the same thing over and over and over again.

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!