What are Painting Knives?

 

Bored of using paintbrushes for your painting? Grab a painting knife instead! While commonly used to mix colors, painting knives (also known as palette knives) are a fun alternative for artists who are looking to step away from their usual methods. It’s much more experimental and is capable of reflecting your mood and emotions by the way you work with them.

Palette knives are made of steel blades with wooden handles. Like a paintbrush, the blades are available in multiple sizes but ideally, you can start with a tear shape blade to get you started!

Why use a palette knife to paint? Low maintenance

Compared to paint brushes, when it comes to the longevity and care needed for palette knives are considerably low. All you need is a spare cloth to clean them!

Vibrant paintings

When it comes to palette knife painting, you are using the paint directly from the tube to the canvas. This means, no diluted colors like regular painting, so you’re using your colors at their best!

Open for errors

In case you happen to add too much color onto the canvas, don’t worry! You can pick the excess by the edge of the knife easily. You can also add more paint on top with zero worries that the color will blend with the underlying color like with paint brushes.

Sharp lines and corners

Yes, you can make straight lines and clean corners with a painting knife. All you need to do is use the edge for creating your desired lines and shapes. Painting knives are indeed versatile!

Easy blending

If you want to mix two or more colors, simply skim the paint across your canvas. The gaps can be filled with other colors or just press the palette knife and move it back and forth to blend and create your desired effect!

Scraping

One other great advantage of palette knives is that you can scrape the paint and add dimension to your painting. It makes your painting more tactile, giving your art more depth.

Ready to grab one for yourself?

Be sure you check these 3 things when you get a palette knife of your own!

Make sure the blade is sturdy but is flexible to glide over your canvas

Hold the handle to see if you are comfortable with it

Check if the edge is straight or if it can affect your lines and corners

And that’s it! You now have all the information you need to make your new masterpiece.

Happy painting!

Originally published at http://kokuyocamlin.wordpress.com on June 28, 2022.

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