Sunday, 8 March 2026

Painting textures with acrylics and old brushes

                                             Painting foliage with old acrylic paint brushes 


 Acrylics are my favourite medium to paint with . They're bright, vibrant and dry quickly . Perfect.....except in the height of Summer when the paint dries on the brush before you can get it on the canvas ! Needless to say  the brushes get ruined very quickly .  Once upon a time it would really annoy me as it seemed like such a costly waste . Then I started painting landscapes and  I realized that they were actually very useful, especially for foliage .  They're clogged up with old paint and the hairs are straggly , I've even cut chunks out of some of them . Each brush gives me a different effect . I refer to them as my "splodgy bits" each creating different size and shape leaves . 

                                                  They are my perfect "tree" brushes 

 Texture painting with old brushes 

 


 

Painting leaves on the trees 

Painting trees with acrylics 

 Another selection of my brushes are for painting grass and plants  . I buy a selection of cheap brushes and purposefully wreck them , ha ha! I've splayed out the hairs and cut some off completely . They work really well with a thin fluid paint .

Painting grass and plants with old or altered brushes 

 Although the fine ones are  time consuming to use  they give me the detail that I want to create .

 

Painting grass with adapted brushes 

Painting grass with acrylics 

  Of course when it comes to textures , effects and details there's nothing that can't be tried and experimented with .

 I've never  been the girly girl type, I'd rather be out in a field than on a dance floor  and have discovered that the contents of my make up bag have a much better  use  ! 😊

Using make up brushes and sponges for paint effects  

 

                                                                      Paintings for sale

No comments:

Post a Comment