Relatively recently, a new direction has appeared in modern art, bearing a strange name - “dry brush”. And in fact, if you think about this phrase, the question arises of whether it is possible to paint with a dry brush?
It would be more correct to call this graphic or painting technique a “semi-dry brush” or “rubbing the paint with a brush” rather than a “dry brush”. However, this new method was not opened by us, nor can we argue about its name. But about what the “dry brush” technique consists of, it’s worth talking in more detail.
In fact, the “dry brush” technique appeared much earlier than the time when ordinary people heard about it in Russia. And it was used, as is known from the history of fine art, back in the 14th century in China to perform black and white landscapes. Materials for artists were mascara, diluted with water, and paper, various brushes were used for work.
Our artists have been using a similar method of artistic depiction since about the beginning of the 20th century. Famous artist V.Ya. Sitnikov worked with black oil paint and a brush in the form of a shoe brush.
In modern Russia, the dry brush technique began to be used by street Arbat artists who worked part-time by painting portraits of everyone who had the opportunity to pay the artist for this. After all, creating a portrait or drawing with oil paints, as is customary in classical painting, is a very complex and lengthy process. Existing technology "dry brush" helps to complete this work in just a few hours, and a sketch or cartoon will take only a few minutes. But, despite this, this technique today does not occupy the last place in the techniques of artistic writing, for some reason this method is not taught in any art educational institution.
The technique of "dry brush" is to work with hard brushes, slightly diluted paints on the surface. When working with the "dry brush" technique, mascara, tempera, acrylic paints are also suitable , you can dilute them with water. But for oil paint, as a diluent, turpentine, oil or diesel fuel is suitable. When working in this diluent technique, an extremely small amount is used, very slightly. The main thing in this matter is to write so that the brush remains dry during work. Fixing the picture is not required, as well as the preliminary primer of the canvas or paper is not required. It is also possible to combine this writing method with various other graphic or pictorial techniques.
In order to complete the portrait of a “dry brush”, you can take paper. For example, textured paper or embossed paper for watercolor paints is great . However, this moment each artist decides for himself, individually choosing the surface on which he will work.
To start using the dry brush technique, the following materials will be required: hard brushes of different sizes, paper, paint, eraser, white gouache and nature. A pencil drawing is applied to the selected surface, thick lines and the use of an eraser should be avoided, as this will be noticeable when applying paint.
Squeeze the paint on the palette and achieve its uniformity by grinding. Then the paint is applied with a dry brush to the surface. A little paint is taken on the brush, it is necessary to ensure that it is evenly distributed along the pile of the brush. To do this, use the palette. It is also necessary to ensure that there is not a lot of paint on the brush - this is one of the main conditions when working with the “dry brush” technique. The main tone ratios are applied with a large brush, the paint is applied to the paper without strong pressure. Then they move on to drawing small details, using an eraser to apply accents and highlights. For applying glare, gouache white is good.