19 Jul A Beginner’s Guide to Brushwork, Lesson #4

Although we are still in the beginning phase of our brushwork series, we are loving it! It’s exciting to learn how just the smallest tweak of the brush, or just a little pressure can change everything that you are creating! I’m even more excited to experience where this is going to lead us, as we practice more and more. Today we are doing brushwork, lesson #4 from the book, Brushwork Elementary Brush-Forms by Marion Hudson. This book gently walks the student through a series of 30 lessons, with the goal of training oneself in the beginnings of watercolor painting. In lesson #4, we will be practicing a pattern of oblique brush forms.

Now, the grid paper used in the book seems to be (maybe?) 1/2″ squares. I couldn’t find any such paper, so I purchased 1″ square grid paper. Unfortunately, the pattern in the book does not translate well onto my 1″ grid paper, so I had to adjust it a little, as you can see below. The X marks the middle of the paper, and I designed my pattern around the X. I don’t think it’s the pattern that is so important but rather practicing the oblique brush forms in all directions.

I found it helpful to draw out the pattern first and then to copy it with the paint brush.

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 4

I spent some time practicing lesson #3 throughout the week, and it really made a difference! Because of this, I found that this lesson worked up very quickly once all of my designing and planning was completed. Here’s the final product!

Having completed this brushwork lesson, we have a small tip to share. It’s optional, but we found it easiest to work from left to right, and bottom to top. This way, there is space to place your pinky finger, and it will not smear your paint.

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!