THINGS I LOVE ABOUT PAINTING WITH A KNIFE by TOM BROWN

Click HERE for this 5x7 oil painting on Masonite.

A few tips for my artist friends: A couple of things I really enjoy about painting with the knife are the quick setup and easy packing up after painting. When I want to paint I just open my pochade box and I’m ready to go. When I’m finished I just close the pochade box and I’m packed up. No solvents to spill. No brushes to clean. It goes fast and clean.

Beyond that, the knife creates  a crisp, bold effect that’s difficult to get when using brushes. Sometimes the knife is the only tool that will do the job well. Today’s painting was an example. The knife was able to capture the true euphoria I felt when witnessing this stunning scene and put it into this painting.

For this painting I used the pochade box shown in the photo below. In recent blog posts I’ve shown a number of different painting kits I enjoy using when painting outside. This is one of my “old standby” kits. It is made of metal, so it can really take a beating and not show it. It instantly clips to a tripod for hands-free painting, or I can use it on a table or in my lap.

I keep it loaded with wet paint so it’s ready to use at a moment’s notice, like when I spotted this scene. And when I return home later I just pop the whole thing in the freezer to keep the wet paint fresh for my next outing.

This painting was truly a joy to paint. I hope you like it too, and I hope the tips I mentioned here are useful. For more tips, tricks, techniques and equipment information …

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Questions? Email me at tombrownstudio@cox.net