These are painting knives. They are bent in the middle so that your fingers, knuckles and wrists don't smudge the paint. The flat ones are palette knives and they are used for mixing blodges of paint on your palette.
Palette knife sounds a bit more arty-farty but they aren't useful in real life cos your finger bits and sleeves get covered in paint. I find painting knives good for everything.
The triangular ended one is the best. It can be used for lots of shapes, spreads and lines and your index finger can control the blade's angle.
This is a painting that was going all right but remains unfinished and will probably be over-painted. This is a common happening chez nous. The unwanted painting provides a grandly textured surface for the next effort and bets can be placed on the results.
This is The Ship Inn at Saltburn. Or was or could be. It has been adulterated with added pen work and has no real eye-light-focus. Perhaps a coble pulled up alongside would add to the composition. The cliffs are a bit wonky.
This is the next exercise: now starting to use the painting knife without any other applicators (brush, finger,nib). A photo of St James the Less in Teesdale was used as inspiration. It is mightily stormy and may benefit from some lighter glazing. Once again it uses painting knife to apply but also to scrape and scratch the paint to make grasses and twigs.
This is on a larger canvas and was an exercise in showing rocks and boulders on the hills in Teesdale. A photo from our teacher was used as a starter. Teesdale-Shmeesdale. Mine, as it often does, ended up looking like Oz. This could easily be part of the Bungle Bungles in Western Australia! But once again I claim single utensil...the lovely triangular painting knife.
Lindisfarne crops up often and I came home from this lesson with a smile on my face. Someone else who has been going to classes for as long as I have said.."That's really lovely. I like that a lot." Thank you Margaret if you ever read this. We all say good things to one another in class, but it's mostly about a lovely colour, or the "sky" or a smaller section. Not often does the whole picture gets the thumbs up. Once again a total painting knife job on a 12 by 16 inch canvas board. I'm so happy I'm planning to go really big next time. Really brave with colour and using a new board with no old painting to provide teeth for the knife.
I didn't go bigger. I just printed this one bigger to show off how pleased I am with it. But I did use a new board and so... One step at a time. I'll vary the palette next time or go bigger.
I have no room for them all and I have no desire to offer them for sale so they shall be gifts. Let me know if there is one that pleases you.
Cheers Gillian
