The Classic grip for holding a watercolor brush is much like the way you hold a pen or pencil for writing. The only difference being that you (for the most part) are gripping the brush further from the business end of things. Pick up your brush and grip the thickest part of the handle above the ferrulle—the body of the brush—and hold it like you are getting ready to write a letter. Remember writing? Weigh the brush in your hand, roll it with your fingers, find the balance of the brush in your grip. Since you are holding your brush as a writing instrument go ahead and use it for that. Practice signing your name in a way that you can use to sign your paintings. It may take a bit of practice to find one that suits you so take your time. The Classic grip gives you linear control, making it ideal for flowing lines and drawing with paint. Mix up some colors, start doodling and see how the brush works as you push and pull it on your paper. Your control for the Classic grip starts from the simple actions of the arms and wrist to the fine control of the fingers. With the control of the brush tip at hand (ha), try drawing a simple picture or two like the old masters’ ink cartoons. Crosshatching, creating value with thin overlapping strokes, is best handled using the fine control this grip offers. Pointillism, the dot by dot laying in of color or texture can be easily done holding your brush this way.
Brush Techniques
It’s a scary feeling when you finally get to the end of that big full sheet marine painting and you have to face up to putting in the masts and rigging. All that good work can be ruined with a few wobbly lines.
Use your little finger as a guide for straight, confident lines.
This is where a well trained rigger brush can make all the difference. Clean, fine, confident lines can mean the difference between success and failure. So practice this exercise to train your rigger brush to make nice straight confident lines.
- Hold your brush perpendicular to the paper
- Stand so you make the stroke across in front of you. From left to right if you are right handed (right to left if left handed)
- Decide where the line will start and finish. Put the tip of your brush down on the starting point, move quickly and smoothly to the finish point, stop, then lift your brush off.
- Make the brush stroke with a big sweeping movement from the shoulder
- Don’t move your wrist and don’t flick your brush off at the end of the stroke – you will teach it bad habits!
TIP
You can keep your little finger on the paper as a guide while you make the line. This stops the up and down movement of the bristles and keeps the line even.
Use the back of an old painting or a sheet of cartridge paper – as long as it’s flat with no creases or bumps, the paper quality doesn’t matter.
Dragging Straight Brush Lines
Another trick you can teach a rigger brush is to make a nice straight line by dragging. The secret to this brush technique is to let the brush do the work. Load it with paint, lay the bristles on the paper at the start of the line and drag it steadily towards you. You may have to turn your painting around to do this. Don’t put any downward pressure on the brush. Resting the end of the handle on your finger is the best method. If the brush tends to slip off a small piece of blue tak or masking tape around the end of the brush will stop it.
Let the brush rest lightly on your finger then drag it towards you without any downward pressure.
Brush Techniques For Flat Even Washes
In this exercise we are going to teach our Hake Brush to take some of the responsibility for a nice even wash. We will put down a wash in the usual way then, with a dry Hake Brush go over the wash and even it out.
Move the brush quickly and lightly in all directions.
The best way to practice this is on the back of, or over the top of an old painting. Mix up a wash and put it over an area of the painting, then, before it starts to dry use your Hake brush to lightly feather over the surface. Keep the brush dry by rubbing it on an old dry towel after every few strokes. The idea is to even out the distribution of pigment and water. Use quick short strokes, back and forth in all directions
A piece of old towel is handy for keeping your Hake dry
This brush technique works well on graded washes too, smoothing out the gradation from pigment to damp paper.
Controlled Release With One Inch One Stroke Brush
Now its time to work on our larger flat brushes. This is an excellent brush technique for over painting texture. The idea is to drag the brush and gradually lower the handle until the brush stops releasing paint. This is usually the point where the handle is almost parallel to the paper.
With the handle almost parallel to the paper the brush starts to make interesting, fractured marks.
Once you find this spot subtly lifting and lowering the brush controls how much paint is released. You will find you can leave a trail of broken, fractured paint that is just perfect for the texture of weathered timber, stippled tree trunks or the shimmery effect of light bouncing off water. Your flat brushes will have no trouble learning this trick.
Brush Techniques for Accurate Splashes
To get loose, random marks into a painting it is hard to beat splashing the paint on with a brush. It sounds like a simple operation but can become very messy with an untrained brush. The secret is in the action. Bring the brush down and stop it abruptly without flicking. Any back flip will cause uncontrolled splashes to go everywhere. Avoid banging it on another brush or your hand, down and stop is the best method. Once you have made the splash, rinse and dry off the brush then adjust the intensity of the spots by carefully blotting some of them up.
Quickly down and stop.
The best way to train your brush to do this successfully is to draw some 100mm circles on a sheet of newspaper and practice until your brush can direct the splashes accurately into a 100mm area
No matter how hard you try, there are some brushes you just can’t tame, but like those little shaggy dogs that always seem to find trouble, they seem to be the ones you love the most.
This painting shows a number of different brush techniques. Dragging lines and sweeping lines are used in the vertical trees. The foreground is punctuated with controlled splashes and a hake brush was used to smooth out overwashes on either side.
The detail in these old weather boards shows controlled release using a 1″ flat brush and Ultramarine Blue. The broken texture created by this type of stroke is ideal for these interesting old surfaces.
Brush Techniques For Applying a Watercolor Wash
The technique used to cover an area of paper with watercolor is called a wash. It can be flat and even or graded in tone. The best brush to use is a 1″ flat brush. It is easier to get an even wash on stretched paper, but gentle use of a dry hake brush, immediately after the wash is applied, will even out the pigment and moisture, giving a smooth finish on un-stretched paper.
Each successive stroke picks up the bead of the stroke above.
To apply a wash first mix some paint and water to the required strength. Before applying the mixture completely wet the paper with clean water. On a gently sloping board, start at the top with a strip of your mixed color from one side of the paper to the other. While this band of paint is still wet, reload your brush with more of your mixture and run another band across, just connecting with the bead formed at the bottom of the previous band. Make sure the paper is completely covered. Repeat this process until the required area is covered. Don’t be tempted to go back and fiddle with what you have done, but keep an eye on any pooling of moisture along the bottom edge of the wash and soak it up with the tip of a damp brush.
TIP
If your wash looks a little uneven, don’t worry, and don’t be tempted to go back and fiddle once it starts to dry. As a wash dries it settles and evens out.
Graded Wash
A graded wash is done in a similar way to a flat wash, only the mixture is gradually diluted as you progress down the wash. A graded wash can also be applied vertically on each side of a painting, leaving a band of light to concentrate attention at the center of interest.
To apply a graded wash to either side of a dry painting it is best to turn the painting around and work from the bottom up, diluting the wash as you progress. Don’t be too vigorous, the underlying paint is easily disturbed, so gently does it. These washes can be done carefully with a bristle brush or, for a safer option a mop brush or a large one stroke or flat taklon.
Graded side washes are best applied from the bottom up with the painting rotated to make it easy
6 Key Ways To Hold A Watercolor Brush
The Classic grip for holding a watercolor brush is much like the way you hold a pen or pencil for writing. The only difference being that you (for the most part) are gripping the brush further from the business end of things. Pick up your brush and grip the thickest part of the handle above the ferrulle—the body of the brush—and hold it like you are getting ready to write a letter. Remember writing? Weigh the brush in your hand, roll it with your fingers, find the balance of the brush in your grip. 
Since you are holding your brush as a writing instrument go ahead and use it for that. Practice signing your name in a way that you can use to sign your paintings. It may take a bit of practice to find one that suits you so take your time. The Classic grip gives you linear control, making it ideal for flowing lines and drawing with paint. Mix up some colors, start doodling and see how the brush works as you push and pull it on your paper. 
Your control for the Classic grip starts from the simple actions of the arms and wrist to the fine control of the fingers. With the control of the brush tip at hand (ha), try drawing a simple picture or two like the old masters’ ink cartoons. Crosshatching, creating value with thin overlapping strokes, is best handled using the fine control this grip offers. Pointillism, the dot by dot laying in of color or texture can be easily done holding your brush this way. 
Hold your brush like you are picking up a pencil from a table, pinching it between your thumb and fingers. We’ll call this grip the Pinch because you are using a pinching action to pick up your brush. As you run through this exercise you can loosen the grip to allow the brush some travel, but only use your fingertips to hold the brush when painting. You can use 2 to 4 fingertips to hold your brush. I found 3 worked best for me. 
Pre-mix some puddles of colors on your palette and prepare to play. And I mean that in the best sense. Position your brush parallel with your paper, loosen your wrist and start seeing what strokes you can make as you hover over the paper. You won’t have much control, but in some artistic situations that may be exactly what you need. Notice the brush’s resistance to upward, pushed strokes and the ease of pulling strokes toward you, or downward. 
Most of the control is in your arm, wrist, and fingertips. Vertical strokes are easiest to pull but erratic to control in width. The wash of the stroke may be broken because you cannot apply the same pressure to the brush as you can with other grips. This same lack of pressure gives a unique texture when you move the brush side to side across your paper. Note that the arc of your horizontal strokes is controlled almost entirely by your arm. 
Pass the pencil
Hold your brush like you are passing someone a pencil or the non-business end of a pair of scissors as in “here ya go. ” But keep the brush in your hand, you’ll need it. This is a looser grip than the Pinch with pressure from your thumb holding the body of the brush against your index and middle finger. Your ring finger and pinkie will wrap loosely and sort of serve as rudders. Held loosely, the brush gives you more control in getting your intent on paper. 
Rest your knuckles on your paper and using wrist motion scrape the edge of your brush against the paper. Alter your brush position and the angle of your wrist as you try different strokes. Try to paint some detailed or linear stokes with this grip. (Good luck) Rolling your brush between your thumb and fingers as you paint makes for interesting textural effects. 
Most of the fine control in this grip in in your fingertips and wrist. You have more control that the Pinch grip. Just in a different way. If you feel up to exploring a little impressionism, this brush grip would be one to keep in mind. 
Hold your brush like a screwdriver. It’s an awkward way to hold a brush at first, especially for painting watercolors. I’ve used this grip in acrylic paintings and oil paintings. Its use in watercolor can serve several purposes. First, the limited range of control forces simplicity. Secondly, holding your watercolor brush in this manner gives access to broad “sketching” or “painterly” strokes. Thirdly, if your fingers shake or you have arthritis, you might consider altering your style by altering the way you work your tools. 
Instead of a “controlled” approach to painting with the Classic grip, the Screwdriver grip forces a different “attack” of paint to paper. I would call it an organic and expressive way to paint. Notice the tight grip of the ring and pinkie finger, as well as the other digits. Roll your wrist while you let the side of the brush roll across the paper for some interesting texture. Useful for blocking in large, loose masses of paint in your paintings. Or as a complete technique in itself. 
The motor control for this grip is shifted to your whole arm and is therefore limited. Your fingers are busy gripping the brush, so they act with the wrist. You’ll be suprised by how much control you DO have and the action of painting while holding your brush this way is as aggressively artistic as it gets. Useful for quick expressive watercolor sketching en plein air or studio. Slapping and daubbing paint, and making grand curves are fun to do with this grip. Try it with a large flat watercolor brush. 
The Conductor
Grip your brush by the tip of the taper of the brush handle, like you’re a conductor about to tap the music stand to make the orchestra come to attention. Using the weight of the brush and the new “feel” explore the looseness and painterly aspects of your brush. You’ll notice this is a variation of the Pass the Pencil grip, using a loose grip so finger manipulation is possible. 
The variation of paint stroke quality in this grip is more a distortion of the brush end being further away from your fingers, and the balance of the weight of the brush in your fingertips. This is another very interactive technique. You have to actively watch the way your brush is moving across the paper. While you are interacting with your brush, your brush will often interact back. You have to learn the feel of the snap of the brush head as paint is whipping around when you paint, grasshopper. 
Using this grip your whole arm down to your fingertips is involved in a balancing act with a wobbly brush than often has a mind of it’s own. Fluid yet thoughtful work is possible, letting you explore paint and form in a loose manner. A good technique for watercolor sketching outdoors when working in fleeting conditions. It’s also just plain fun to paint this way sometimes, it’s great for exploring ideas. 
While researching the life of Dong Kingman I noticed a variation in his brush grip peculiar to those trained in Chinese calligraphy and sumi-e style painting. The original Chinese writing system was in the form of pictograms, tiny little abbreviated images of people and things called the hànzi characters. They are composed of thick and thin stylized lines that a brush makes. (To learn about sumi-e painting start here.) Western cultures have long depended on pens and pencils for handwriting and drawing, but the handwriting of many eastern cultures is based on the brush and ink. 
A stick with a singular point, i.e. a pencil or pen, requires you to apply pressure as you write and so demands a strong grip, so when we grab a brush we invariably go for the “Classic” grip. Just like we were getting ready to draw. In fact, early European watercolors were called watercolor drawings with washes tinting a drawing base. The classic grip works fine for the most part but it also requires more effort and has less range of motion and expression than the sumi-e lock. By shifting your brush position from the top of your index finger to the bottom of your index finger (see example) your grip becomes less severe, allowing controlled fluid movement. 
I noticed Mr. Kingman often held his brush this way when “writing” his figures, birds and other expressive details in his famous works. The 1954 James Wong Howe film Dong Kingman has many scenes of the artist at work en plein air as well as working at home in his studio. Try this grip when painting small areas and details like figures, birds, or architectural elements in your painting. You will get more range of movement and “snap” to your brushwork.
