Share to XA reader asked why artists hold their brushes so far from the bristles, as if they were waving a wand (see the right image below). If you already know the answer, then this email may be too basic for you. But I thought I would cover it nonetheless, as holding the brush correctly can dramatically improve your work.
There are two main reasons.
First, it allows you to paint with your arm, shoulder, and body rather than just your hand, wrist, and fingers. This is critical. It will make your strokes more fluid and connected. Everything will flow and read better.
When we start learning how to paint, we tend to hold the brush as if we were holding a pencil and writing someone a letter, with our fingers cramped up around the bristles and our face up close to the painting. But holding the brush like this severely limits the range of motion of each stroke. You can see for yourself now. Make a few strokes in the air with just your hand, wrist, and fingers. Then do the same with your whole arm and shoulder. You could even get your legs and hips involved.
Painting from your hand, wrist, and fingers also relies on relatively tiny muscles, which may tire over long painting sessions.
Second, it allows you to stand back as you paint so you can see it all come together as a whole. As you make each mark, you can immediately see how it fits with the rest of your painting. When painting with just your hand, we tend to get up close to the painting. And often the part we are working on will read well up close, but wrong in the context of the whole painting.
Now this isn’t to say gripping the brush close to the bristles is wrong. I hold the brush like this if I need to paint intricate detail or if I just don’t have much space to work (say I’m painting plein air in a cramped position). But for the most part, you should hold the away from the tip and use your whole body.
Happy painting!
Dan Scott
Draw Paint Academy
PS. As always, thanks for all the kind words in the comments of the Autumn Tree post. I do read them, and it means a lot!
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