Oil painting is a versatile and durable medium that allows artists to create dynamic and engaging works of art. We learned this the hard way… One crucial element that is often overlooked in oil painting is the power of brushwork – the way an artist applies paint to the canvas using a brush. Brushwork has the ability to convey texture, movement, and emotion, and can be a powerful tool for figurative painters seeking to create expressive and emotive artworks.
Now, this might seem counterintuitive…
In this comprehensive guide, we will explore a range of expressive and emotive brushwork techniques that can be employed in figurative oil painting. We’ll examine how artists use various brush types, painting methods, and creative approaches to infuse their figurative works with a palpable sense of energy, personality, and feeling. Through practical demonstrations, real-world examples, and insightful analysis, you’ll learn how to harness the full potential of your brushwork to craft captivating, emotionally resonant figurative paintings.
Brushwork as Expressive Language
At its core, brushwork is a fundamental and highly personal aspect of an artist’s visual language. The way paint is applied to the canvas – whether energetic and gestural or delicate and precise – can dramatically impact the overall mood, movement, and emotive power of a figurative work.
As the artist and art theorist George Inness once said, “The purpose of the painter is simply to reproduce in other minds the impression which a scene has made upon him. A work of art does not appeal to the intellect. It does not appeal to the moral sense. Its aim is to awaken an emotion.”
This idea of using paint application as a means of conveying inner emotional impressions is central to the concept of expressive brushwork. Artists who embrace this approach often favor a more spontaneous, intuitive, and visually dynamic handling of the medium, eschewing meticulous realism in favor of a more evocative, interpretive style.
By experimenting with different brushwork techniques – from thick, impasto strokes to delicate, feathery marks – figurative painters can imbue their works with a compelling sense of movement, energy, and psychological resonance. This allows them to transfuse their own emotive responses and subjective experiences into the painted form, creating figurative artworks that feel truly alive and expressive.
Fundamental Brushwork Techniques
Before we dive into the more expressive and emotive applications of brushwork, it’s important to have a solid understanding of the fundamental techniques and brush types that form the foundation of oil painting. These basic methods provide the building blocks for crafting more dynamic, gestural, and psychologically impactful figurative works.
Brush Types and Their Applications
One of the keys to mastering brushwork in oil painting is to become intimately familiar with the various brush types available and how each one can be utilized to achieve specific effects. Here are some of the most common brush shapes and their typical uses:
-
Flat Brushes: These rectangular brushes with straight edges are highly versatile, allowing artists to create both broad, sweeping strokes as well as precise, linear marks. Flat brushes are excellent for blending, laying down washes of color, and defining sharp edges.
-
Round Brushes: Rounded to a point, these brushes excel at creating fine details, delicate lines, and small areas of concentrated color. They are particularly useful for rendering facial features, intricate clothing folds, and other intricate elements of the figure.
-
Filbert Brushes: With their flat, oval shape and curved edges, filbert brushes are ideal for blending and creating soft, diffused edges. They can also be used to lay down thicker, more expressive strokes when using heavier impasto.
-
Fan Brushes: The soft, splayed bristles of fan brushes make them well-suited for creating feathery, impressionistic textures – perfect for rendering hair, foliage, and other organic forms.
-
Detail Brushes: These small, fine-tipped brushes are essential for painting meticulous details, sharp lines, and precise highlights, particularly in the facial features and other small-scale elements of the figure.
-
Mop Brushes: The large, absorbent heads of mop brushes make them ideal for applying washes, glazes, and blending large areas of the canvas. They can also be used to create soft-edged, atmospheric effects.
-
Angular Brushes: With their angled, flat edges, angular brushes are excellent for painting crisp, linear elements such as architectural details, clothing folds, and clean-edged shadows.
In addition to these traditional brush types, many figurative painters also employ palette knives, sponges, rags, and even their fingers to manipulate the paint and achieve unique textural effects. Experimenting with this wide array of tools is essential for developing a diverse and expressive brushwork vocabulary.
Foundational Painting Techniques
Alongside familiarizing oneself with different brush types, mastering the fundamental oil painting techniques is crucial for building a strong technical foundation. Some key methods to explore include:
- Layering and Glazing: Applying thin, transparent layers of paint to gradually build up color, value, and depth.
- Blending: Seamlessly merging and softening the edges between brushstrokes to create a cohesive, unified surface.
- Impasto: Applying thick, textural strokes of paint to create a sense of physicality and dimensionality.
- Scumbling: Dragging a dry brush lightly over a dried layer of paint to create a hazy, atmospheric effect.
- Wet-on-Wet: Painting directly into still-wet paint to encourage spontaneous blending and mingling of colors.
By developing proficiency in these core techniques, artists can then begin to experiment with more expressive and emotive applications of brushwork in their figurative paintings.
Expressive Brushwork for Figurative Painting
One of the most compelling aspects of oil painting is the ability to imbue a work with a palpable sense of energy, personality, and emotional resonance through the deliberate use of brushwork. This expressive approach to paint application allows figurative artists to move beyond mere representation and into the realm of evocative, interpretive storytelling.
Loose, Gestural Handling
For artists seeking to capture the dynamic movement and visceral emotion of the human figure, a loose, energetic brushwork style can be a powerful tool. By employing bold, gestural strokes, figurative painters can convey a heightened sense of immediacy, spontaneity, and expressive intensity.
Take, for example, the work of contemporary artist Gerhard Richter, who uses a technique called “squeegee painting” to create large-scale, abstracted figurative works. Richter layers and scrapes away thick paint with a squeegee, resulting in richly textured, expressive surfaces that seem to vibrate with a raw, almost performative energy.
Similarly, the figurative paintings of artists like Lucian Freud and Jenny Saville exhibit a dynamic, almost confrontational brushwork style, with thick, slashing strokes that seem to capture the very physicality and emotional weight of the human form. By eschewing precise rendering in favor of a more instinctive, gestural approach, these painters are able to imbue their figures with a striking psychological presence and visceral emotive power.
Impasto and Textural Exploration
Another powerful way to infuse figurative oil paintings with expressive brushwork is through the use of thick, sculptural impasto. By building up layers of paint into a pronounced physical texture, artists can create a sense of materiality and tactility that resonates on a primal, sensory level.
Rembrandt, for instance, was a master of using impasto to imbue his portraits with a palpable sense of human presence. The thick, intricately worked paint surface of his self-portraits suggest the very substance and weight of flesh and bone, while the expressive, almost sculptural brushwork animates his subjects with a vivid, lifelike quality.
Similarly, contemporary figurative painter Alyssa Monks employs a rich, impasto-laden technique to capture the sensual, embodied experience of the human form. Her figures seem to emerge from the paint itself, their fleshy physicality rendered in thick, tactile strokes that evoke a sense of intimacy and psychological vulnerability.
By embracing the inherent materiality of oil paint, figurative artists can craft works that feel less like passive representations and more like living, breathing entities – vessels for the expression of profound human emotion and experience.
Atmospheric Brushwork
While bold, gestural brushwork and impasto techniques can be highly effective for conveying a sense of raw, visceral emotion, a more atmospheric, nuanced approach to paint application can also be a powerful tool in the figurative painter’s arsenal.
Artists like Claude Monet, for instance, utilized a fluid, soft-edged brushwork style to capture the ever-shifting play of light and atmosphere around the human figure. In his oeuvre of Impressionistic portraits and scenes, the figure often seems to dissolve into its surrounding environment, the brushstrokes blurring the boundaries between subject and setting to create a dreamlike, emotionally evocative effect.
Similarly, the figurative works of contemporary painter Alyssa Monks frequently employ a hazy, atmospheric quality, with delicate, feathery brushwork used to render the skin and drapery of her subjects. The result is a sense of intimate, psychological intimacy – an almost palpable aura of vulnerability and introspection surrounding the figure.
By manipulating the fluidity and softness of their brushwork, figurative artists can craft paintings that feel less like static representations and more like evocative, emotionally resonant windows into the human experience. The figure becomes less a discrete object and more a vehicle for exploring the more ephemeral, intangible aspects of the human condition.
Expressive Brushwork in Practice
To truly harness the expressive and emotive potential of brushwork in figurative oil painting, it’s essential for artists to experiment, take risks, and embrace a spirit of playful exploration. Here are some practical tips and techniques to help you get started:
Prioritize Energy Over Precision
When working on figurative paintings, resist the urge to get bogged down in meticulous rendering and hyper-realism. Instead, focus on capturing the essential energy, movement, and emotional essence of your subject through bold, dynamic brushwork. Use large, sweeping strokes to block in the major forms, then gradually refine the details while maintaining a sense of spontaneity and gestural vitality.
Employ Varied Brush Handling
Alternate between different brushwork techniques within a single painting to create visual interest and a sense of depth. For example, you might use a filbert brush to lay in broad, soft-edged washes of color, then switch to a round brush for rendering smaller, more precise details. Incorporate palette knives, sponges, and other unconventional tools to add textural variety and a sense of physicality to your work.
Embrace Accidents and Happy Mistakes
One of the joys of working with oil paint is the ability to continuously rework and revise the surface. Lean into the unpredictable nature of the medium, allowing unexpected drips, bleeds, and other “happy accidents” to inform the evolution of your painting. Don’t be afraid to scrape back, scumble over, or otherwise manipulate the paint in search of compelling new visual directions.
Experiment with Color and Palette
The strategic use of color can be a powerful tool for evoking emotional responses in the viewer. Experiment with bold, saturated hues, moody color harmonies, and unexpected combinations to heighten the expressive, psychological impact of your figurative works. Pay close attention to the interplay of warm and cool tones, and how they can be used to convey a sense of mood and atmosphere.
Draw Inspiration from the Masters
Study the brushwork techniques of artists you admire, both historical and contemporary. How do they use paint application to convey movement, texture, and emotion? What can you learn from their approach to manipulating the medium? Use these insights as springboards for your own creative explorations, and don’t be afraid to put your own unique spin on time-honored methods.
By embracing an expressive, emotive approach to brushwork, figurative painters can craft oil paintings that transcend mere representation and become powerful, psychologically resonant works of art. Through the strategic use of varied brush types, dynamic painting techniques, and a willingness to take creative risks, you can imbue your figurative pieces with a compelling sense of life, energy, and emotional depth.
So pick up your palette knife, load up your brushes, and get ready to pour your heart and soul into every stroke. The possibilities for expressive, emotive brushwork in oil painting are endless – the only limit is your own imagination.
Statistic: Studies reveal that engaging with diverse art techniques boosts creative output by over 40%