The first brushstrokes!
Remember when you were just starting out and you spent all that time thinking about the focal point in your painting as well as perspective and vanishing points? Directional brushstroke is the nuclear bomb to those. It takes care of both composition and perspective, it provides movement to the painting, it gives a solid foundation and it is the instilling of the soul of the work.
A little goal of mine is always to have some of the original directional brushwork showing through in the final painting which is possible when you only say something with your brush when you have something to say. This means that you are not filling in areas that you think you need to colour in or that you are afraid of. The filling in of areas in your painting is an easy trap that will reduce your painting to simply a rendering.
It is with this goal in mind that the importance of directional brushstroke becomes apparent.
Directional brushstroke is directional because they are the highways that run through a painting, they are usually executed with speed and vigor which in turns sweeps the viewer along, guides them to the focal point and moves the other person though the painting via the route that you chose. As you build your painting, you will understand the importance of treating your strokes like stitches in a tapestry when you notice that the initial directional brushstrokes are often visible underneath and are still able to exert their influence. You also cannot underestimate the power that these strokes have on your own psyche.
So always, always, always start your painting with directional brushstrokes. Later you can execute similar strokes but these usually have a different function and are defined more by their unifying characteristics and quality of paint.
Directional Brushstrokes are made with large brushes of flexible paint that sear across the canvas and are usually done in the opening moments of the painting. The strokes are made with your dark and the colour statements that follow. The size of your brush is based on the idea that one brushstroke is always better than two so choose a brush that will let you do this. The brush is loaded enough that the brushstroke has the ability to start and finish where you want it to and the quality of paint should allow the stroke to complete. On a large painting you may need to add more medium to the paint but remember that you hope that some of these brushstrokes will be in the final painting so you want to add just enough medium to make the paint work for you. It is important that your directional brushstrokes be laid down without hesitation.
Pay attention to where your strokes start and end and how they start and end. Always look for a way for your directional strokes to break over each other.
