Brushwork

Unit Two Tips Rocks

PRINCIPLE: DESCRIPTION OF TEXTURE

You can use different strokes to show the texture of an object.

Use angular strokes with hard edges for hard, solid objects such as rocks.
Cracks in rock

Use sharp, angular strokes to suggest cracks or chips in rocks.

Feathery objects

Use soft, thin strokes to communicate feathery objects such as shrubbery, trees with lacy foliage, or moss hanging from a tree. You can also blend the object into the sky. This conveys the impression of the sun shining through the object, revealing its feathery quality.
Foreground foliage

Use short, squiggly strokes to suggest grass or foliage in the foreground.

Contrast with feathery and
hard

Emphasize the solidity of solid objects over feathery ones by contrasting impasto strokes over thin paint. For example: a tree branch covered by feathery hanging moss, or the feathery branches of a tree seen against a solid trunk.
Foggy skies

Sacred Mountain

12x16in (30x40cm)

Use flat brush strokes without any texture to them to indicate overcast or foggy skies.
Asilomar Dunes 8x10in (20x25cm)

Backlit objects

Keep the texture simple for objects that are backlit. You should not be able to see any modeling in the mass except for some rim lighting.
Brush bristle textures

You can use the paint texture Robinson Canyon 12x16in (30x40cm) created by the bristles of the Morning brush for descriptive purposes. One use would be to simulate the striations in bark of certain trees such as birch. Make the brush strokes in the direction of the grain of the bark.

Edition 1.0

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2005 Barry John Raybould