Tiny Brushes, Tiny Thoughts.

"Tiny brushes- tiny thoughts" is a quote that describes what size brush to use when painting and why. Basically it says that it is best to use the biggest brush that you can. Using too small a brush will make it difficult to paint with breadth. A small brush will cause you to niggle the form and require you to paint in 15 little strokes that which may be done as well in one big, thought sweep of a # 12.
The 'tiny brushes, tiny thoughts' quote is especially fun to use on students that I find painting with small brushes. It entertains me anyway.

Speaking of small brushes, last week I did some tiny little paintings that I thought I would share.I had some small frames this size, and thought I would arrange and paint some cherries since they are in season. I am not a big fan of eating cherries, but did enjoy painting them. I don't like eating food in which there is something you have to spit out. It just seems unsophisticated.
I bet I used bigger brushes on these then you you think. Most of the work was done with #3 and 4s.

These cute little guys are only 2 inch square. They were painting in just a few hours over a two day period. I was hoping to finish both of them in one shot, but that never seems to work, no matter how small the painting. I like to let it dry, then go in to re-wet areas, adjust and correct any problem spots. I like having that dry lay-in to work on for finishing.

Next I decided to paint another light bulb. I have done a few before for the ArtWorks Secrets sale every winter, but these are a bit bigger and will go in the gallery. Light bulbs are great fun to paint and have very subtle forms and color.

The idea, 4 x 6, oil on linen

There is no real science to hitting a light bulb with a hammer, but I was hoping for bigger pieces so I could arrange them a bit in some interesting design. I did arrange the shards a bit, but ended up adding the hammer which was not my intention. It ended up being an improvement. I squealed with joy when this happened.  It added a center of interest to an otherwise jumbled mess.

The Idea Considered, 4 x 6,oil on linen, 2010

After this I decided I needed to rework the light bulb in the first painting. So, unfortunately I had to glue all of these pieces back together so I could work on it again. In hindsight, it probably would have been easier to just use another light bulb.