A New Way to Blend

Blending on a palette isn’t the only way to mix and blend your paints. Blending on canvas is a simple and easy way to merge colors. It may seem intimidating at first, but this post will explain the basics and get you started on your new blending technique journey. Paint type, Brush type, use of water, and brush technique are all important to master this skill.

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Paint Type

The first step in learning how to blend on canvas is picking the right paint. Watercolor paint is very easy to blend on canvas because the paint is applied very wet. Acrylic paint also works for blending on canvas. However both watercolor and acrylic paint dry fairly quickly so you have to work fast. Oil paint works amazing for blending on canvas. Oil paint takes a long time to dry so you have more time to tweak and mix colors on your canvas before the paint dries. This article explains the differences between water color, acrylic, and oil paints in depth.

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Brush Type

Choosing the right type of brush is also very important when learning to blend on canvas. Small, fine tipped brushes don't work well for blending (unless you are blending a very small area). Larger, more full brushes work the best for blending. Blending on canvas is different from blending on a palette because when blending on canvas, you are placing two colors next to each other and mixing at the seam. When blending on a palette, you create your desired color then transfer it to the canvas. This makes it very important to pick the right brush because you need something that is large and full enough to touch both colors on either side of the seam when mixing. This article explains why choosing a specific brush type is important.

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Use of Water

When working with a water based paint, watercolor or acrylic, water can be very helpful when blending. Water helps to keep the paint hydrated while blending so you have more time to work with the paint before it dries. This article shares some tips on how to use water to help blend watercolor paint specifically.

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Brush Technique

While picking a specific brush is important, the way you use the brush is also very important. Depending on the style of your painting you can blend in circular motions or linear back-and-forth motions. Circular motions are easier to use when blending a large area, while linear motions are better for blending the seam of two separate colors. This article gives a great tutorial on how to blend acrylic paint and shows the specific type of brush and motions you should use.

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Learning to blend on a palette and on canvas can be a long journey, but its fun to experiment a long the way. I hope the information in this post can act as a tutorial to start your journey of learning to blend.