Creating the One Stroke Way - Day 2

Yesterday, (click here to read the first post in this series) I shared with you how we were going to create beautiful things together using the One Stroke Method of painting. Today we'll get started with some of the basics you'll need to know. Grab a flat paintbrush, dip it into water and then dab it dry on a paper towel.

We will be working with a dampened paintbrush to start, but will NOT be dipping the paintbrush into water between strokes.  The wonderful thing we'll be doing in these painting projects is loading 2 or more colors of paint onto our brushes and then painting and shading all at the same time. 

In the spirit of the season, I'm working on pumpkins. I poured a puddle of orange and a puddle of yellow paint onto a styrofoam plate. I dipped one side of my brush into the puddle of orange. Then . . .

I dipped the OPPOSITE side of the brush into the puddle of yellow. Be sure to scoop up plenty of paint. Everything will flow much better, you'll get better coverage that way. Don't be stingy - you'll want lots and lots of paint on that brush! Now, we'll work the paint into the paintbrush, by pushing your brush back and forth, back and forth, make a stripe an inch or two long.

See how the two colors gradiate from the orange on one side of the brush to yellow on the other side? 
After working your colors into the brush, you will lay your brush onto your painting surface. (I'm using plain old paper in my practice samples here.) Below you see how I took my brush and made a 'comma' or 'c' stroke on my paper.

Look at how the colors blend and gradually change. If I had not worked my brush back and forth, I would instead have a definite orange and yellow stripe. Take time to practice and play around with color and loading paint and making different sizes and shapes of strokes.

Now, for the pumpkins. I played around with those comma strokes, layering them and building one upon the other in a way that creates an image of a pumpkin.

I even experimented loading a third color, burgandy, onto my brush to give more depth and shading to the sections of my pumpkins.

Tomorrow, I'll take you step-by-step as we create pumpkins perfect for placecards at your Thanksgiving table or a sign for your Fall Harvest part or a Welcome plaque to greet guests.

If you'd like to know more about the One Stroke Painting method created by Donna Dewberry, or if you are interested in her workshops, instruction books or other products, you can check her website at http://www.dewberrycrafts.com/

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