One Stroke Brush Loading - Preliminary Steps


I suggest using a 3/4 inch flat brush when practicing these steps. In

my experience, it is easier to control the amount of paint in this

size brush. Begin by dipping the bristles of the 3/4 inch flat brush

into water, then place the bristles on a paper towel fold towel over other

side of bristles and pull through making sure to get most of the water out

of the bristles. This will prepare the brush for loading.  



Next, for double loading, dip one corner of the bristles in one color

and then the other corner in another color. The two colors should

meet a little in the middle of the brush.



One Stroke Brush Loading - Step 1

Keep the handle of the brush straight up and down. Touch the chisel

edge (the tip of the bristles) to your foam plate. Press the bristles

all the way down to the ferrule (the metal part of the brush) and

slide the brush in one direction about one inch. Then slide back in

the opposite direction ending where you first started. Repeat that

motion about three or four times.



One Stroke Brush Loading - Step 2

Go back to your paint puddles and dip the corners again, just like

you did in the preliminary step. Repeat Step One, but when you slide

the brush back and forth don't press down as hard as you did the

first time. This time, you should use about two-thirds of the

pressure you used in Step One.



One Stroke Brush Loading - Step 3

Same Step Two. However, instead of using two-thirds pressure, use a

little bit less pressure when sliding the brush back and forth.



One Stroke Brush Loading - Step 4

Same as Step Two. This time you will use two-thirds pressure again to

distribute the paint on the bristles.



At this point, your brush is fully loaded. These four steps may seem

repetitive, but what they are doing is drawing the paint into the

brush. When you have fully loaded your brush, you should have paint

two-thirds up the bristles and there should be a paint line straight

across the bristles.



Did I Load My Brush Correctly?

You can see if you are loading your brush properly by performing the

following test on a sheet of paper. Start on the chisel edge, press

the bristles down about two-thirds, then slide about one inch. If you

do not see any skips in the stroke, then you are loading your brush

properly.



One Stroke Brush Loading - Painting and Reloading

When you use the above technique, it is easy to keep your brush full

of paint. This is because you will be constantly loading paint into

your brush. After you make one stroke, you will need to either slide

the brush back and forth where you loaded the brush the first time,

OR you will need to repeat Step Four of the brush loading.



One Stroke Brush Loading - Too Much Paint

It is very easy to have too much paint in your brush. It still

happens to me from time to time. When I have too much paint, I

squeeze the paint out using a paper towel. I then reload my brush and

start painting again.



One Stroke Brush Loading - Painting on Paper and Porous Surfaces

If you have problems getting the paint to flow smoothly on paper or

porous surfaces, then you will also want to use floating medium. If

you have never used this before, it is a clear gel. When your brush

is fully loaded, dip the chisel edge into the clear gel, then go to

the area where you loaded your brush and slide back and forth a few

times to mix the gel with the paint.



A word of caution, however. If you use too much floating medium, then

your painting will appear semi-transparent. This is the technique

used to create shadow leaves, but may not be the effect you are