Painting with Pallet Knives.
Painting with pallet knives can give an interesting textural effect to your painting.The knives come in different shapes and sizes. There are short square ones which tend to be good for using on roofs and shingles shapes as well as various flowers and grasses. The smaller diamond shaped ones have the springy tip and are good for sculpting in shapes such as rocks. These are also good for dabbing round flower type shapes in. The large larger pallet knives are good for dragging colors and laying down large sections of color. You can drag and wriggle the knife for reflections such as in water. The long knife shape is good for painting, edges, and cutting lines. It is also good to load your knife with the darker green blue color and pull down under the waves of water to accentuate the waves too good effect.
Do not hold the pellet knife as if you were buttering a piece of bread. You should hold the pallet knife at a 45° angle with your fingers and the index finger on the actual knife itself in order to control the paint. Use a light touch. Do not press into the painting, but hold it flat against the page.
Using the pallet knife will take up a lot of paint. If you were using heavy body acrylic paint, you will need to mix it first so it is not stiff before you start. Oils tend to be stiffer as well. Put on a fair amount of paint in order to obtain the nice texture that knife painting can give.
Enjoy playing with these techniques, using the knives, both horizontally and vertically to see the different effects.
