Teeny tiny brush is very useful

First you see the dry brush and how few hairs it has!

Next you see its size next to a Sharpie pen.

Then you see it on my palette and that is what I'm going to

tell you about.

To properly use this brush, you have to spread out a smear

of slightly thinned paint (the longest smear on my palette

in this photo). Flatten the smear with your palette knife so

that it is easy to pick up on the brush. Then hold the brush

so that it is practically parallel with the palette surface and

twirl it so as to get it all evenly covered with paint.

I use this brush for jobs such as painting whiskers on my

cat paintings!

Try it out without committing!

The top image is the original painting (acrylic).

It is the work of a student of mine.

If you are nearing the end of a painting and need

to try out additional elements then here is a way

to do it without putting on paint that you may have

to take off and also wreck affects that are underneath

that you like and want to preserve.

Take colored paper and cut out shapes and lay them

on the painting til you like what you have. I have

done this in two arrangements. Of course I could

have cut different shapes in different sizes, but I

think this communicates the general idea.

Nothing is too small!

This sweet statue is actually only two inches tall.

A student brought it to class so I could see it after

she had done a drawing of it.

But it was so small, it was hard to see the details.

So I told her to take a photograph of it and enlarge

it so she could see the details well enough to draw

it.

I took this photo with my studio camera to show

her what a difference it makes to really see all the

details! I put it on a plain background that enhanced

the figurine and then lit it with my desk lamp to

create what you see here!