Loosen up! Try painting with a long stick.

A lot of people get caught up in the little details when painting. By concentrating on exact and precise details you can be missing out on freer, more expressive strokes and paintings can end up being leaden and lifeless.

How to overcome this…

One way is to make yourself have less control. Try taping your paint brush to a firm, metre long stick, a metre ruler or piece of dowel is ideal. Tape the brush on firmly with masking tape and then apply the paint to your canvas with the brush, you will not have the same control, your works will be freer. Using a flayed twig is another good way to loosen up your mark making. Try using a different size brush, larger or smaller brushes so there is variety in your mark making. Happy Painting 🙂