BONUS CONTENT - Palette Knife Surface Flattening (Patreon)

Let’s talk more about the palette knife! 

Clearly one of my favorite topics. I previously endorsed the palette knife for mixing colors and for sketching, but do I also use it in the process of making fully realized paintings? DEFINITELY! Take a look at this palette knife segment I cropped out of a painting process. When I start my alla prima paintings (challah prima, in this case), I often put lots of paint down and move it around a great deal until I find the compositional design and the proportions I want. But what then? If I already have lots of impasto on my surface I arrived at a dead-end! If I try adding more paint on top I’ll just get muddy colors... Enter: the palette knife! I use the palette knife to flatten the extra paint and to remove any unnecessary texture, while fully preserving the design and the proportions I achieved. This method provides me with an excellent foundation on which I can add more paint and create more refined visual effects. Let me know if you have any thoughts or questions on this, I’d love to answer them in the comments. 

This piece is titled "Vortex", and Patrons have access to the full painting process video (2:28:19), thank you for your support!