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	How to Loosen Up Your Painting Style by Nolan Clark A previous article on how much detail your painting needs told us to loosen up and stop adding detail that the viewer isn't going to see anyway. For some artists this is way more difficult than it sounds. You get so used to painting with your 0, 00 and oh boy that faithful old 000 brush, that holding a brush any bigger feels like you are holding a telephone pole in your hand. Not to worry, help is at hand. Follow these simple techniques and you will be painting as free as a bird in no time. 1) Increase your brush size. Instead of using the brush you normally would, choose the next size up. By doing this you won't be able to add as much unnecessary detail even if you try. 2) Use less medium When painting with small fine brushes you need to thin your paint down quiet a lot otherwise you can't get the detail you want. We can now turn this on it's head to force us to loosen up. If you add less medium to your colour mixes you will get less detail with the same brush as you need to press harder to get the paint on the canvas. 3) Hold the brush on the other end. When painting detail we hold the brush on or close to the ferrule like a pen. Move your hand back until you are holding the brush on the tip furthest from the bristles. You will find that you now have a little less control over your brush and can't overdo the detail. This method also has the added advantage of forcing you to stand further away from the canvas. 4) Hide your brushes There is probably no better way to loosen up than to hide your brushes. Take out your painting knives and let the fun begin. Always bear in mind that you DO want detail in your focal point, but it isn't necessary in the rest of the painting. These exercises are there to force you to paint extra loose so that you can find that happy medium between too much detail and too little. Who knows, you may even find that you prefer to paint loose. If you enjoyed these hints & tips, please don't forget to sign our guestbook. If you would like to ask us any questions on these hints & tips, you can post them HERE. We will be delighted to answer them. To ensure that you are notified when new hints & tips are added you can join our mailing list by clicking HERE.

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