Brusho Demonstration

KreativeK

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Brusho watercolor crystals are an amazing art supply and well worth experimenting with then using the colors to your best advantage along with any watermedia or mixed media. For this demonstration we will be looking at constructing a winter landscape barn using grey Brusho.

Barn tutorial photo.jpg

Reference photo from long ago of abandoned barn in snow.

Barn tutorial tracing paper.jpg

Felt tip sketch (also did pencil sketch on 140 lb cold press Grumbacher Paper 9x12)

Barn tut Brusho.jpg

Grey Brusho. If you use them, poke holes in plastic top with push pin or tiny nail. Do not take lid off as crystals will scatter.

Barn tut grey in palette.jpg

Sprinkled the grey crystals in a corner of Frank Webb palette. Water will be added with #6 or #8 round brush as seen below.

Barn tut grey with water.jpg


Barn tut darkest dark.jpg

Start with darkest dark on the paper pencil sketch, wet on dry.

Barn tut darkest dark cont.jpg

Painting darkest darks, almost looks black, continued for those areas.

Barn tut midtones.jpg

Mid-tones next. See how the grey Brusho has separated into other colors. Let dry.

Barn tut sky.jpg

Sky is next using 1" flat synthetic Liquitex brush along with a very small amount of cerulean blue watercolor for that cold, winter feel. Rigger/script liner brush begins parts of bare tree trunks. If Brusho wash is not dark enough (it will dry light) then add more over dry areas of the wooden barn.

Barn tut distant trees.jpg

Distant trees added with #6 round brush when sky dried, smoothing edges.

Barn tut bare trees ground rigger.jpg

Rigger brush adding bare branches with dark grey, then a looser more brown color with rigger laying almost flat, puts in the ground texture seen in the snow. Add details to inside barn such as window panes, boards, etc., not seen in ref photo.

Barn tut foreground rigger.jpg

Close up crop of foreground using rigger brush, different strengths of grey Brusho for variation. Tiny diagonal strokes indicate dead grasses. I'll add at least three birds in the sky on right hand side for balance and to indicate life.

Abandoned Barn in Winter.jpg

Finished Abandoned Barn in Winter
 
Thank you for the instructive tutorial, Kay. The end result is beautiful. What are the advantages of using Brusho crystals instead of conventional water colours? Can one get good textures by just wetting the paper with plain water and then sprinkling the crystals onto it from something like a tea strainer held quite high over the paper?
 
Lovely painting and very interesting demonstration Kay !
Cheers,
Patricia
 
Thank you for the instructive tutorial, Kay. The end result is beautiful. What are the advantages of using Brusho crystals instead of conventional water colours? Can one get good textures by just wetting the paper with plain water and then sprinkling the crystals onto it from something like a tea strainer held quite high over the paper?
Yes, it’s just another way of using pigment. You can put them sprinkled into a wet area where they’ll disperse into lots of colors, but it’s hard to smooth them out into a solid color. You’ll get a splotchy look. I’ll do a practice spot to illustrate that.
 
Great demo, thanks so much! I wondered about sprinkling them directly so thanks for explaining how they behave.
 
Yes, it’s just another way of using pigment. You can put them sprinkled into a wet area where they’ll disperse into lots of colors, but it’s hard to smooth them out into a solid color. You’ll get a splotchy look. I’ll do a practice spot to illustrate that.
That's good to know. I wouldn't want solid colour anyway — splotchy is my middle name.
 
Well done, Kay. Love barns. My mom always put 3 birds in her drawings. :) She only drew on scrap papers and the calendar when she would put a note about where they saw the cows, etc. Thanks for the demo.
 
Great demo, Kay! Thank you for this. Your control with this is admirable. I like the loose, random sprinkle effect too. :)
 
Kay, What an informative tutorial and beautiful painting! Really nice composition with the addition of the birds. Tony Couch would have loved that barn! :) I never realized one mixed them with water, so you answered another members question that I had about sprinkling them. I noticed that the red seemed to have a perforated cap, like spices, but the gray you poked the holes in. Do the caps comes with a "sprinkler"? I abhor when I open things and it flies all about. Our home is a "glitter free zone", as that stuff is on everything from home decor to cards and gets all over. I even open cards over the trash, as so many greeting cards have glitter. It seems like one can never get rid of it, it just keeps moving from place to person. It's the herpes of the crafting world! :giggle:
 
This was a great demo Kay. Thanks for posting it. I've seen paintings you did using Brusho in the past but I didn't know exactly how it was used. It looks like a lot of fun.
 
Kay, What an informative tutorial and beautiful painting! Really nice composition with the addition of the birds. Tony Couch would have loved that barn! :) I never realized one mixed them with water, so you answered another members question that I had about sprinkling them. I noticed that the red seemed to have a perforated cap, like spices, but the gray you poked the holes in. Do the caps comes with a "sprinkler"? I abhor when I open things and it flies all about. Our home is a "glitter free zone", as that stuff is on everything from home decor to cards and gets all over. I even open cards over the trash, as so many greeting cards have glitter. It seems like one can never get rid of it, it just keeps moving from place to person. It's the herpes of the crafting world! :giggle:
Thanks! All of the little tiny jars have holes poked in their tops by me. I tear a small piece of masking tape with color name and put that over the holes. It won't spill out. You have to shake really hard to get the crystal powder to come out.
 
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