To master all possible painting and drawing techniques, it is necessary not only to study diligently, but also to use all kinds of tools that allow you to apply paint to the canvas in different ways. Perhaps any professional artist must try to work with such a tool as a palette knife at least once in his life. However, many newbies have only a superficial understanding of what it is, how to choose it and how to use it.
Features:
The name "palette knife" comes from the Italian word, which can be translated as "spatula", because such an artistic tool really looks like a small spatula or even a knife. As a rule, professionals actively use this tool when working with oil or acrylic paints, although recently interest in the palette knife has increased somewhat among watercolors.
The purpose of such a spatula is quite multifaceted: it will help you mix paints on a palette, and then clean it of pigment, remove excess paint from the canvas, or paint a picture without a brush at all.
It should be noted that the latter technique is becoming more and more popular, as the result is quite different from classical painting. Of course, the form of the design does not imply the prescription of subtle details, but due to the absence of inevitable blurring of paints when using a brush, the palette knife gives an amazingly bright and saturated color. A characteristic feature of paintings painted with a palette knife is also an expressive texture, which traditionally turns a two-dimensional painting into a three-dimensional painting.
Of course, professionals do not paint a serious picture in any one technique and use a palette knife in combination with classic brush strokes. The artistic spatula is used for large forms of the foreground or middle ground with an emphasized, pronounced texture. This includes architectural objects, waves on the water, rocky landscapes and other relevant topics.
It is possible that palette knives were widely used by artists back in the Renaissance, but then they were more perceived as an auxiliary tool for working with a palette, and not as a substitute for a brush. The modern understanding of the role of the spatula in painting spread only in the last century, when literally everyone began to draw with it, but earlier some famous artists gradually used it to apply paints to canvas. Among the outstanding masters who at least occasionally used this technique, Titian, Francisco Goya, Gustave Courbet and Paul Cézanne should be distinguished.
The artists themselves note that learning to draw with a spatula is not so difficult, and you can use it both in combination with a brush, and independently of it.
For those who have long been accustomed to working exclusively with a brush, the new method of painting may seem inconvenient at first, but the possibilities it opens up are worth trying.
Types of artistic spatulas
Like most modern goods, palette knives are divided into several types according to one or another quality. The professional artist is primarily concerned with the classification by method of application, as it plays a huge role in the choice of tool.
Originally, this type of paddle was designed to work with a palette, and these days they certainly have not gone anywhere. The palette knife is a flat tool that does not have a bend near the handle. The edge of such a spatula is necessarily sharpened, because with its help the master removes dried paint from the palette. This shape is also convenient for mixing paints on the surface of the palette and for removing excess oil from the canvas.
Palette knives directly for drawing are distinguished by a special curvature, which increases the accuracy of working with the canvas. The blade of such a tool is usually resilient, which contributes to a softer application of paint to the substrate. The variety of spatulas of the actual artistic direction is quite large: first of all, they differ in size, which makes it easier to adapt to different canvas sizes.
The width of the blade also varies: a narrow tip is more flexible and is closer in nature to a brush, while wide tools are better for embossing large objects. At the same time, the exact shape of the scapula can represent the most unexpected shapes to achieve the difficult goals facing the master.
The variability of palette knives is also possible in terms of the material of manufacture. The handles are made from any convenient material, including ordinary wood and plastic, as well as more exotic ones - bone and glass.
Only two materials are suitable for the blade: the expected metal and the somewhat unexpected plastic. Metal blades of spatulas are considered the norm and classic: they bend well, but sometimes they can disappoint with their quality, because certain alloys contribute to the oxidation of oil paints. Among metal palette knives, those made of stainless steel are especially popular, since moisture is not terrible for them.
Plastic varieties of an artistic spatula are good only for their price, because they quickly break down and are actually suitable in the long run only for mixing paints. You only need to choose them in order to try yourself in this painting technique.
Criterias of choice
Artists who have sufficient drawing experience and have the opportunity to ask for advice from familiar colleagues often decide on the choice of a palette knife on their own, but a beginner will definitely need advice on how to choose the right spatula. For a kind of "pen test" it is better to buy a plastic version, because it is cheaper, and the new recruit himself cannot be sure that he will like this technique.
The choice of blade shape can also be puzzling for a beginner, because for artistic purposes they are produced in a wide variety of variations.
Professionals say that it is best to try on a teardrop and geometrically correct blade (not on one, but on both) and only then choose more unusual options.
The shape of the blade largely determines not only the aesthetic effect of the pattern, but also the ease of use of the spatula. For instance:
- in order to save the canvas from mechanical damage, it is worth choosing rounded blades;
- removing excess paint, which in itself is a separate technique, allows a sharpened blade;
- texture is best conveyed if a palette knife with an oval blade was used to create it;
- if there is a need to write out clear lines, you cannot do without a geometrically correct blade;
- palette knives with a particularly complex blade shape are needed only by professionals who have already mastered the principles of working with simpler options.
At the same time, in choosing a tool, one should focus not only on the predicted creative effect, but also on the banal convenience of the handle and the quality of the product. Although the product looks simple, there are several criteria that distinguish quality from mediocre:
- The blade of a palette knife will never be as elastic as the pile of a brush, but a springy tip is considered a sign of a good artistic tool.
- The spatula consists of only two parts - the handle and the blade, and it is very important for the artist that they are connected as reliably as possible. The slightest chattering or, even worse, scrolling can ruin a real masterpiece, but an oil painting, as you know, is difficult to fix.
- The artist's tool should be an extension of his hand - it should fit comfortably in the palm of his hand. The presence of any defects in the handle is unacceptable, and blots of wood processing in the form of potential splinters are a real shame for the manufacturer of such a product.
Range
You can usually buy an artistic palette knife in the same place where other related products are sold, for example, such as oil paints, brushes and canvases for them. Even a novice artist can afford such a gift, because an average spatula costs only about 100-250 rubles.
It's another matter if you purchase several palette knives at once, because here, as in the case of brushes, a set of tools of different shapes and sizes contributes to an increased variety of creative methods.
A set of inexpensive plastic spatulas that will help a beginner in this technique fully grasp the main advantages of this method of creation will cost the same 200 rubles, but a set of a good tool with metal tips will hit the wallet harder, and even the price of a thousand rubles will not be the upper limit.
If we talk about manufacturers producing palette knives, then the choice of brands is not as great as in the case of paints or brushes, and there are no generally recognized authorities here, respectively. A person who has never delved into this topic can only say something brand "Sonnet", since very high-quality domestic paints of the Leningrad art paints plant have been produced under the same brand for several decades.
Spatulas can compete with this company Art-Kvartal, Conda, RGM Classic, PinaxArtists Classic and Daler Rowney, however, it is difficult to make a reasoned choice in favor of one of these brands - they are all approximately the same both in quality and cost.
Choose or do it yourself?
Many men, who are able to create masterpieces with their hands, not only with a brush and paints, but also with the help of typical male tools, refuse to spend money and time looking for and buying the right palette knife if it is possible to make it with their own hands. As the experience of such people shows, the result turns out to be very worthy: it hits the wallet much less, and most importantly, it meets the wishes of its owner as much as possible.
The most difficult thing in the process of self-production of a spatula is creating a blade of the required shape. First you need to find a piece of metal (hardly anyone will waste time on a home release of a plastic version), from which you can make a blade. From the options for potential raw materials offered on the Internet, old spatulas for construction purposes, old hacksaws and even a Soviet-made metal folding rule look realistic. Depending on the shape and size of the raw sheet, blanks for future blades are cut out of it using a "grinder", a special hacksaw or metal scissors.
Accurate shaping is made possible by sharpening and sanding the edges, which also determines the sharpness of the blade.
The part that provides the connection between the blade and the handle can be manufactured in different ways. If the sheet of metal used was quite large, it is better, in the process of cutting out the blade, to immediately make it solid, combined with the core of the future handle. In this case, the metal workpiece will need to be bent, for which it is heated white-hot.
A similar procedure can be performed even at home, if the metal is heated long enough over an ordinary gas burner, but then you need to follow safety precautions as carefully as possible... You can fasten the individual parts from which a homemade spatula is made using a large nail, for example, a slate. It must be bent at the desired angle and inserted into both parts of the palette knife through specially made holes.
The handle for a homemade spatula can be made independently by carving it out of wood on a machine, but buying a finished product will also be very practical, which will cost the consumer several tens of rubles. As a rule, there is already a hole in the factory blank for inserting a metal part, which you just need to correctly flatten from the side opposite to the blade in order to avoid loosening the structure.
After that, it is worth again tapping the joints with a hammer in order to properly flatten the joints and ensure the immobility of fastening some parts to others. The exact cost of a hand-made palette knife varies greatly depending on the availability of improvised tools from which it can be made. However, users who have experience with such crafts indicate the cost of producing one such tool within a hundred rubles.
How to choose a palette knife, see the next video.
