How to Use a Fan Brush to Blend Two Colours

Steps

1. 1. Lay Two Values Side by Side

   Start with two values of the same colour butted up against each other, a light green and a dark green here. Do not try to blend them as you lay them down.

   Tip: Two values of one colour is the easiest place to start. Two different hues fight each other and go muddy in the middle while you are still learning the stroke. Watch this step

   

2. 2. Cross the Seam at Forty Five Degrees

   Take the clean fan brush and strike across the join at roughly 45 degrees. One direction, then back the other way, so the strokes cross each other over the boundary.

   Tip: Wipe the brush on a rag every few passes. A fan loaded with mixed paint stops blending and starts painting a third colour. Watch this step

   

3. 3. Hold the Brush at the End of the Handle

   Choke right back to the end of the handle. Holding a fan brush up near the ferrule like a pencil gives you far too much control and far too much pressure, and heavy pressure is the one thing that ruins the effect.

   Tip: A light grip also stops you digging tramlines into wet paint with the outer bristles. Watch this step

   

4. 4. Keep Going Until the Seam Disappears

   Work back and forth over the join, moving the brush a little further into each value as you go, until you cannot find the line any more. What was two blocks of colour is now one continuous run from light to dark.

   Tip: Stop a little sooner than feels right. Over-blended paint goes flat and loses the variation that made it interesting. Watch this step

   

5. 5. Add a Third Colour Along One Edge

   Once the two-value gradient is working, bring in a third colour along one edge, a pale cream here. Lay it down as its own block again, hard edge and all.

   Tip: Load the new colour with a different brush. Putting fresh paint on with the fan itself contaminates the bristles and you lose the soft blend. Watch this step

   

6. 6. Blend It In With the Same Light Strokes

   Same technique, no changes. Cross the new seam at 45 degrees, both directions, light pressure, held at the end of the handle.

   Tip: Wash a fan brush by dabbing it flat in water and blotting, never by squeezing the bristles. Squeezing splays them permanently and the fan stops fanning. Watch this step