A Palette Knife Study

PALETTE KNIFE • HAY BALES • AGRICULTURE • HARVEST

Hay Bales, 6 x 8, oils

This little study is part of a series I'm starting to shake myself out of my comfort zone. I still tend to fall back on my illustration skills when a painting gets tough so I needed some exercises that make that harder to do. That's where the palette knife comes in. I've used one before to help lay extra paint down but I would always do the initial block in and then finish with brushes. This time I used the knife as my primary tool. I also made it an emphasis to not over mix paint on the palette. With paint this thick I found myself editing by scraping paint down or picking it up in one area to put it somewhere else. Try doing that with thin paint!