Palette and Painting Knives, One for All daily painting by Everglades artist Jo-Ann Sanborn

One for All, Jo-Ann Sanborn

acrylic on board, 5"x7"

Having just finished up working hard for the solo show at Aura Gallery, I've been taking a little time to contemplate what's next.  Just for variety I did today's daily painting mostly with a painting knife. 

A painting knife has a blunted point, no sharp edge, not always symmetrical, and with a handle more like a trowel to keep your fingers are somewhat protected from smearing in the paint.  A wide variety of marks can be made, from fine lines to pressing, lifting, smearing and spreading the paint.  

It's also possible to paint with a palette knife, which has a rounder tip and  less jog to the handle.  Palette knives are usually symmetrical and easy to use to mix paint on the palette or to scrape paint off either palette or canvas.  Neither has a sharpened edge, although it's possible to develop a sharper edge with use, especially using the earth pigments. 

Both are used interchangeably by most artists.  Using a painting or palette knife instead of a brush tends to  leave more texture and little bits of color to excite the eye.  In this case I used a brush at the finish, a combination which gives the best of both worlds.