More or less filled brush

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I like to use only one brush per painting, of course it doesn’t always work, sometimes I have to use two different brushes. This can be true for large paintings, which contain not only large surfaces (which require a large brush), but also details that are difficult to paint with a large brush. This also applies when a certain technique requires a different brush. But I prefer to use only one brush per painting. It helps hold the calligraphy together and it’s easier to paint as well.

If one is to use only one brush, its full potential must be put to use. A brush has a much wider range of uses than most beginners understand.

For almost all of my students, a medium mode applies to brushes: medium amount of paint in the brush, which on the paper gives off a medium amount of paint, with a medium pressure in a medium-thick brush stroke. Since all brushes receive the same medium treatment, the student must change brushes from time to time. When a painting is finished, there may be four or more brushes on the table.

When you paint fluidly, the entire brush should be dipped in paint, not just the tip. Then the brush goes directly to the watercolor paper, many people like to remove some paint by dragging the brush on the edge of the mixing cup, but avoid that if you want to paint really fluidly. The brush must be held horizontally when brought to the paper. If you were to angle it just slightly vertically, a drop will leave it. If you’re unlucky, it lands in the middle of the watercolor paper.

For more regular painting, a less filled brush is preferable. Fill the brush and pull off the excess towards the edge of the mixing cup. With a smaller amount of paint, it is easier to control the brush strokes and calligraphy.

With even less paint in the brush, more controlled and thinner brush strokes follow. If you want to make a really thin line or detail, you should almost completely empty the brush of paint.

The amount of paint in the brush is controlled in this way, at each new dip in the paint. In this way, every brush stroke can be exactly how you want it, from really wet, when painting fluidly, to almost dry when you paint small details. All this with one and the same brush.

When you master the different degrees of color quantity in your brush, your painting tools get a much wider range of uses. You can paint fairly large surfaces really fluidly with a smaller brush. While you can use the same brush for the smallest details.

Other brush techniques, such as how you hold the brush, the angle to the paper or how much pressure and speed you paint with, of course play a role, but the most fundamental is the ability to have the right amount of paint in the brush, different depending on what you want to achieve.