"The Rancher", Ann Feldman
Last year, I took a workshop with
Carolyn Anderson, a phenomenal impressionist painter. I've admired her loose, interpretive style of painting for years, so I was thrilled to be able to see how she approaches a painting. One of the things I came away with was that sometimes a small brush can be used to add some "air" and mystery to a painting. Seems counterintuitive, since we are often told to reach for the largest brush possible when we try to loosen up our paintings.
In "The Rancher", I used a #2 filbert brush (which is pretty darned tiny) for the entire painting, using the point to draw and fill in with scratchy strokes, then I used the side of the brush to flatten out the paint in areas such as the hat. I call this style of painting "Drawing with Paint". In Carolyn's workshop, once I started with this style, I couldn't stop! She would come by my easel and encourage me to pick up one of my other brushes to finish the painting, but I wanted to see how far I could go with one brush. A little is good, so a lot will be great, I thought…
Here is an example of Carolyn's work. You can see why I have been so taken with her!
"Girl With Curls", Carolyn Anderson
