The technique of 'dry brush' in the visual arts

More recently, a new trend appeared in contemporary fine art, which has a strange name - "dry brush". And in fact, if you think about this phrase, then the question arises, can you paint with a dry brush?

This graphic or picturesque reception would be more correctly called "a semi-dry brush" or "rubbing paint with a brush", and not a "dry brush". However, we have not discovered this new method, it is not for us to argue about its name. But about what is the technique of "dry brush", it is worth talking more.

In fact, the technique of "dry brush" appeared much earlier than the time when ordinary people in Russia heard about it. And it was applied, as is known from the history of fine art, back in the XIV century in China to perform black and white landscapes. Materials for artists served as mascara, diluted with water, and paper, for work used a variety of brushes.

By our artists, this method of artistic representation has been used since the beginning of the 20th century. The famous artist V.Ya. Sitnikov worked as a black oil paint and a brush in the form of a shoe brush.

In modern Russia, the technique of "dry brush" began to be used by street Arbat artists who earned money by writing portraits of all comers who have the opportunity to pay for it to the artist. After all, creating a portrait or drawing with oil paints, as is customary in classical painting, is a very complicated and long process. The existing "dry brush" technology helps to accomplish this work in just a few hours, and the sketch or the cartoon will take only a few minutes. But, despite this, this technique today is not the last place in the techniques of artistic writing, for some reason, this method is not taught in any art school.

The technical method of "dry brush" is to work with hard brushes, weakly diluted paints on the surface. When working with the "dry brush" technique, mascara, tempera, acrylic colors are also suitable, and they can be diluted with water. But for oil paint, as a thinner, turpentine, oil or diesel oil is suitable. When working in such a diluent technique, an extremely small amount is used, quite a bit. The main thing in this business is to write so that the brush at work remains dry. It is not necessary to attach the picture, just as it does not require preliminary priming of the web or paper. It is also possible to combine this method of writing with various other graphic or pictorial techniques.

In order to perform a portrait of "dry brush", you can take the paper. For example, a paper with an invoice or a paper with an embossing for watercolor paints is perfect . However, every artist decides this moment for himself, individually choosing the surface on which he will work.

To start working with the dry brush technique, you will need the following materials: hard brushes of different sizes, paper, paint, eraser, white gouache and nature. On the chosen surface, the contour of the pattern is applied with a pencil, thick lines should be avoided, using an eraser, as this will be noticeable when applying the paint.

The paint is squeezed onto the palette and is achieved by its homogeneity by grinding. Then the paint is applied with a dry brush to the surface. On the brush is taken a little paint, you need to follow that it is evenly distributed over 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. With a large brush, the main tone ratios are applied, the paint is applied to the paper without strong pressure. Then they pass to the drawing of small details, the eraser brings accents and highlights. For the application of highlights gouache white is suitable.