April 25, 2008, Newsletter Issue #179: Double Loading a flat brush

Tip of the Week

Many of us struggle to double load a flat brush when we start out. There are several important factors.
1. Both colours of paint ought to be the same creamy consistency.
2. The right amount of moisture in your brush is needed. too much water will cause a flood on your brush and work, too little will prevent the colours blending nicely in the middle.
3. The blending strip is important. You place the corner of the brush in one colour and the other corner in the other. One colour on each side. I have heard and been taught to see this as a pair of cutains on a window. These two colours need to be blended together. This requires a surface to blend on and a good pressing down of the brush to open the bristles. So...the surface should not be too slippery. Some do successfully blend on a tile or plate but I find this too slick and the paints don´t blend nicely. A disposable pallette paper can work provided it is not the waxy type. You need the one that is suitable for watercolour. In Australia and other places around the world the cardboard from used milk and long life drink cartons makes a good surface. (cleaned of course!) My favourite surface is the wet pallette itself, especially the commercially available Sta Wet pallette as the paper is the right tecture for blending, and the moistur of it keeps your blending strip nice and moist.
4. The blending of colour takes places as you pass the brush through the two colours on your blending strip...so press down and open up the bristles for about an inch of distance. The blend back up the inch, forward again and so on. Blending back and forth in this fashion allows the two colours to blend in the middle. You will need to refresh the load of colour on the brush as you run out of paint, and if you are on a wet pallette should use the same strip for blending. Each time you make a new one you are using more paint.

About LifeTips

Now one of the top on-line publishers in the world, LifeTips offers tips to millions of monthly visitors. Our mission mission is to make your life smarter, better, faster and wiser. Expert writers earn dough for what they know. And exclusive sponsors in each niche topic help us make-it-all happen.