How to Paint with a Palette Knife

Simple Techniques for an Artist's Alternative to Paint Brushes

Sep 4, 2007 Alina Bradford

How to use a palette knife in your oil or acrylic paintings.

In 1899 Charles Hawthorne, a New England artist and art teacher, established the outdoor painting school The Cape Cod School of Art, where he invented the palette knife. While teaching his students to use broader strokes in their painting he would use a putty knife to apply the paint. That putty knife blossomed into palette knifes of all shapes and sizes.

Today, the palette knife is used by artists everywhere, for many different reasons. No matter if you paint with oil or acrylic, loose or detailed, thick or thin, you can use a palette knife in you painting. Here are several techniques to add to your bag of tricks.

Making Texture

The most common use of a palette knife is to add texture to a painting. This is usually done with a larger, wider palette knife heaped high with paint. Then, the paint is smoothed onto the canvas like icing on a cake. Lifting the knife slightly off of the canvas while you swipe can produce beautiful, fluid ridges to build your painting upon. The more flexible the knife, the more control you have of the paint, though some artists prefer stiff knifes.

It is important to remember to only paint wet-on-wet when using palette knifes for this technique. Dry paint can get damaged by the knife as it sweeps by.

Please see example one, below, to get the general idea of what you may come up with. It takes practice to master laying down ridges exactly where you want them, but it is also a lot of fun.

Layers

Palette knifes are ideal for laying down large swaths of color for layering. This technique is particularly helpful for creating beautiful skies and stunning water. Simply start with your darkest color and layer lighter ones half a swipe down.

Example two is an illustration of layering done with a semi-dry, or not very paint-loaded, knife.

Adding Detail

If you've ever wanted to scratch out something on your canvas to add detail or texture, then a palette knife might just be your handiest tool. Small, tipped palette knifes are usually best for this. In example three you can see several scrapings with a palette knife.

Paint Removal

As you can see from the example above, you can easily remove paint from your canvas with a palette knife. This is handy for cleaning up mistakes, as well as for making designs. Just make sure that you do not damage your canvas.

The copyright of the article How to Paint with a Palette Knife in Painting/Drawing is owned by Alina Bradford. Permission to republish How to Paint with a Palette Knife in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
Example One, Alina Sandor Example One
Example Two, Alina Sandor Example Two
Example Three, Alina Sandor Example Three
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Comments

Jan 24, 2009 9:40 AM
Guest :
Hawthorne didn't invent the palette knife . Palette knives were in use before then for mixing paints on the palette and more than one painter ( notably Van Gogh ) sometimes used one in their work.
May 23, 2009 9:21 PM
Guest :
Well, the No 1 use of Palette knife is cleaning the palette, secondary you need it to mix paints with different color. It's not suitable to say somebody invented palette knife, I assume most painters must already had some kind of tool to clean and mix paints, although it was not named "a palatte knife", or "a palatte spattle".

Palatte knife can create amazing look paintings, it's so unique. the knife painting impressed me most is a <a href=http://www.canvaz.com>white horse painting here</a>, the painter must had used a big or long knife(I assume) to creating the horse. This kind of painting need quite good skill on knife, because you obviously have no chance for refining, which can only mess it up.
Sep 7, 2009 4:22 PM
Guest :
There are palette knives and there are painting knives, and Hawthorne didn't
invent either. He did, however make them very popular with his students
and thier students, such as Lois Griffel who wrote the popular "Painting
the Impressionist Landscape," which recommends knives over brushes.
Two out-of-print books from the 1970s by Coulton Waugh are very helpful:
"How to paint with a Knife" and "Landscape Painting with a Knife." His
breathless, informal style irritates, but a wealth of good information is
available in these books. I found my copies through Amazon.

3 Comments