Help!

[Bongo]

I'm new to oil painting - and I just finished a piece that had a lot of wet on wet blending. I managed the blending without problems EXCEPT at the end of a stroke it would leave a brush mark. So the blend was free of marks until I lifted the brush off, and then it would leave a mark. Ive tried everything I could think of - different brushes, less pressure. I ended up going back with my pinky and ever so gently trying to blend them out - which half the time created a bigger smudge.

 

[ntl]

Wet-on-wet is, for me. really difficult, and I've been at this a while . Plein air, which I love to do, is so difficult for me, at least partly due to that.
One thing you might try is, just keep going for a bit. Then take a clean soft brush and gently whisper across your work.
I'm sure others will have other suggestions for both of us to use.

 

[snoball]

Best advise I can give is to use less paint in areas that will need blending and save the heavier paint for subsequent layers. Then as ntl says, use a clean dry brush and just barely touch the paint to smooth (think feather).

 

[Artyczar]

Clean dry brush, try a real sable. The softer the better. Give it a light touch. It will remove the brush marks.

 

[WFMartin]

As the TV oil painter, Wilson Bickford says, "If there is paint on your brush, you are 'painting'; if you have no paint on your brush, you are 'blending'." I pretty much agree with that statement. As artyczar suggests, use a clean, dry, and SOFT brush. You should not have trouble with those "start-and-stop" marks showing up.

 

[Bongo]

Thanks everyone - lots left to learn