Olly Pyle's Trees
I have been following Olly's videos on painting trees. using the flat of my brush. I am not happy with my results and wondered whether it might be the brushes I am using. I use Silver Black Velvet which I love, they are soft with a wonderful point and hold a lot of paint, but I think they are probably too soft for flat-brush trees.
So I tried some other brushes, Isabey Sable, no 5: Rowney Sable No 4 , the sables were good, not so soft, they held their shape.. I then tried some Riggers, a Daler Rowney rigger no.2 and a Cotman Rigger no.6. I found both of these difficult, obvious I need more practice with these.
I also tried Terry Harrison Fan Stippler, OK, but not very enthused.
What brushes do others use for painting spring or autumn trees?
Sables (escoda and rosemary and co) or squirrel mops (da vinci) ive found the best. A Princeton Aqua Elite synthetic quill (Edo's choice) is also a fantastic brush range. Rough them up a little and push the colour upwards to create tree shapes. make sure you have a nice good mix, not to watery. Then have a couple of values pre prepared. Paint the lighter values first and then drop in some of the darker wet into wet.