ZenART's Membership Plans Terms & Conditions

(Updates effective 17/08/2020)

These terms and conditions (“Terms and Conditions”) govern the ZenART Supplies Rewards & Referral Plan as well as Subscribe & Save Plan (“Membership Plans”), and members of the programs will earn zen coins in connection with the purchase of qualifying online products and online activities that are redeemable towards the purchase of certain products online. For the re-occurring members (Subscribe & Save Plan) this includes exclusive gifts & content.

1. REWARDS & REFERRAL

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  • Eligibility. In order to be eligible for the Rewards & Referral Program, you must create an account as outlined in these Terms and Conditions. You may create an account if you are at least seventeen (17) years of age, have Internet access, and have a valid mailing address. If you are between the ages of 17 and 18, you must have your parent’s permission to register for an account. If you choose to create an account, you are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your account, username and password and for restricting access to your account. You are responsible for keeping such information current, complete, accurate and truthful. You agree to accept responsibility for all activities that occur under your account, username and/or password. You agree to provide only current, complete, accurate and truthful information. If you are accessing and using the Site on someone else’s behalf, you represent that you have the authority to bind that person as the principal to all Terms and Conditions provided herein, and to the extent you do not have such authority you agree to be bound to these Terms and Conditions and to accept liability for harm caused by any wrongful use of the Site or Content resulting from such access or use. You may only have one member account per natural person. Persons who are discovered to have more than one account forfeit their zen coins and will be unsubscribed from the Loyalty Program.
  • How To Enroll in the Rewards & Referral Program. (a) Create an account: Visit www.zenartsupplies.com (the "Site" or "Online") and become a registered user of the Site. Click here to be taken directly to the registration page. You will be asked for your first and last name, your email address, and a password. You will also be given the option to sign up for our newsletter. Once you have submitted the requisite information, you will be sent an email to the address you listed confirming your membership. Once you have confirmed your email address, you are automatically enrolled in the Reward & Referral Program and are a member (“Member”).
  • How to Access/Change Your Member Information. You must keep your personal information on your Account up-to-date. To do so, click on the "My Account" section and access your account by entering your registered email address and current password. From your dashboard you can access your account information; review your current and past orders; change your profile; manage your subscriptions and applications, and access your previous purchases.
  • How to Cancel Your Membership. You may cancel an account at any time. To cancel your account, please send an email to support@zenartsupplies.co and write “cancel membership” in the subject line. The email must come from the account currently listed on our servers as being associated with your Rewards & Referral Program. If you no longer have access to that email address, please email our customer service department and we will verify your status and cancel your account. Upon cancellation, you are no longer a member, and any unused zen coins accrued in your account will be forfeited and cannot be redeemed. Zen coins maintain their value only on valid accounts in good standing, and except as otherwise provided here for redemption, have no cash value outside of their redemption value on the Site.

2. EARNING ZEN COINS

  • General Members can earn zen coins on the purchase of qualifying online products at zenartsupplies.co. To receive zen coins for your Online purchases, you must be signed into your account. You may check at any time to see if you are signed in to the Site by looking in the upper right-hand corner of the site. Gift cards do not qualify for zen coins. Other products that do not qualify for zen coins are noted on the Site.
  • Earning Rate. Members earn 5 sen coins for every $1.00 spent on qualifying purchases (in other words, one (5) zen coins for every one dollar ($1) spent). Zen coins are based on your order subtotal, after any discounts, only. Zen coins are rounded down to the nearest whole number. For example, if you spend $9.99, you will receive 9 zen coins. The calculation is as follows: $9.99 x 1 zen coins per dollar = 9.99 zen coins, which is rounded down to 9 zen coins. This program started on August 17, 2020, and initial levels were set on the 2020 amount spent on ordering products. Note: Shipping and Taxes are not taken into consideration. If an item is return and/or price adjusted that will also be removed from your rewards calculations.
  • Gift Cards. Gift card purchases are not eligible to receive zen coins. However, once a gift card is redeemed, zen coins will be awarded to the recipient for the subtotal after any gift card values, provided s/he is logged into the account, as outlined in these Terms and Conditions.
  • Addition of Zen Coins to Accounts. Zen Coins will be added to your Account under the following conditions, and will generally show up immediately. You will receive zen coins:
    • At the time of account registration
    • During the purchase of qualifying products
    • For other activities outlined on the Site that may show up from time to time. Note that for these other activities, including “bonus zen coins” accumulations and other zen coin promotions, zen coins may show as “pending,” depending upon the activity.
    • Joining the Birthday Club. Birthdate must be entered 30 days before your Birthday to qualify.
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    • Referring a friend to ZenART Supplies. Your account will be automatically awarded the discount only if the referral friend used the link sent to them from your referral account and makes a qualifying purchase. Discount will automatically be applied to account if stipulations are met.
  • Exclusions. Members earn zen coins only on the purchase price of: (i) qualifying online products. Calculation of zen coins excludes payment by the Member for shipping charges and all taxes, including without limitation, federal, state, and local taxes or use taxes. Zen Coins will not be earned on any discounts or other credits offered in connection with a product or service. For example, if a product that is normally $50 is on sale for $25, a Member will only earn zen coins on the purchase price of $25. Purchases of gift cards, redemption of vouchers, and any type of price adjustments, including merchandise returns, are not eligible for zen coins. All purchases made: (i) by a Member prior to such member joining the Program, (ii) Online without a Member being logged onto the Website with the Member's Account number linked to the Member's Online account, are not eligible for Reward & Referral Program credit. The purchase of ZenART Supplies products outside the Zenartsupplies.co website are not eligible for the Reward & Referral Program.
  • Returns/Order Cancellations. Zen Coins earned for a purchase that is then the subject of a return, cancellation, refund, declined credit card or gift card, or other credit will be deducted from your account in an amount equal to the zen coins earned for the original transaction, including any bonus zen coins that may be applicable. Any rewards discounts that are applied to the order, will be distributed equally to the applicable items in the order when completing a return. Zen Coins redeemed on an order will not be reapplied back to your rewards account for any reason on a returned order. If a return/cancellation will cause your account to have a negative zen coin balance, you will not begin earning zen coins again until your zen coins balance is returned to zero (0), by making purchases, or engaging in other promotional activities offered from time to time. If an item is exchanged (different product) any redeemed rewards on the initial purchase may be transferred to the exchange one (1) time only. Rewards used on an order that is canceled cannot be reapplied as they are good for just one use.
  • Bonus Zen Coins Promotions. From time to time, ZenART Supplies may run certain bonus zen coin promotions. Under bonus zen coin promotions, Members can earn additional or "bonus zen coins" in connection with the purchase of certain online products. When you purchase these specially marked products or make the purchase during a bonus zen coins time period, you will earn bonus zen coins on each product, as specified in the offer. Bonus zen coin promotions are subject to the terms and conditions of the offer and may be offered at any time in ZenART Supplies sole discretion. Bonus zen coin offers cannot be combined with any other offer.
  • Limitations on Bonus Zen Coins and Zen Coins, Generally. These terms apply to zen coins and bonus zen coins accruals. If you purchase a product during a promotion and the product comes with an additional, free product, zen coins will not be issued on the retail value of the free product. If you redeem zen coins towards the purchase of a product and pay a portion of the retail price after the zen coin's redemption, you will receive zen coins only on the leftover retail amount you pay, and not on any value attributed to the zen coin you used. If you redeem zen coins towards the purchase of a product in an amount equal to the full price of the product, you will not earn any zen coins.
  • Non-purchase Options for Earning Zen Coins. You may also earn additional zen coins on non-purchase activities. From time to time, ZenART Supplies may offer you the chance to win various prizes, and earn zen coins, for entering into promotions. For sweepstakes promotions, there is NO PURCHASE NECESSARY TO PLAY OR TO WIN. Rules and restrictions will apply to such promotions and may be found on the entry page of any promotion.
  • Referring a friend to ZenART Supplies. Email a friend an $8 off coupon on $50 order by clicking “ Earn Zen Coins” then “ Refer a Friend”. Enter the email address of a friend who has not purchased with ZenART Supplies before (if your referral has shopped with us before the referral link will be automatically voided by the system). A referral link will be sent to your friend with an $8 off coupon on a $50 order. $8 off coupon on $50 order will automatically be rewarded to your account only if the referral friend used the link sent to them from your referral account and makes a qualifying first-time purchase with ZenART Supplies. Your Referral friend will receive an $8 off coupon on $50 order, 200 zen coins for signing up, and zen coins from their first purchase made while signed into their new ZenART Supplies account.

3. REDEEMING ZEN COINS

  • How To Use Your Zen Coins. Zen Coins must be used in increments outlined in these Terms and Conditions. The maximum number of zen coins that may be used in a single transaction is 10,000 zen coins. Zen Coins may only be used Online at the ZenART Supplies website. Zen Coins towards Products: Members can use their zen coins to reduce the purchase price of a product or to receive a product for free based on the following scale:
    • 500 zen coins = $5.00 off
    • 1,000 zen coins = $10.00 off your at least $50 order
    • 1,500 zen coins = $15.00 off your at least $50 order
    • 2,500 zen coins = $25.00 off your at least $50 order

    Zen Coins can only be redeemed in any combination of the zen coin and increment amounts set forth above. Redemption of zen coins towards purchases of products is subject to product availability. Any rewards discounts that are applied to the order, will be distributed equally to the applicable items in the order when completing a return.

  • Gift cards. Once available, zen coins cannot be used towards the purchase of gift cards. Gift card redemption, however, is eligible for zen coins. Zen Coins accrued pursuant to the use of a gift card will benefit the gift card user, provided the user has an account in accordance with these Terms and Conditions.
  • To Redeem your Zen Coins. Before you begin shopping with us, sign in to your Shop account on our site. Select “Redeem Zen Coins” from the red tab housed in the lower left-hand corner of the screen and select the amount of zen coins you would like to redeem. You will be issued a custom code that you can copy and paste into the discount bar during check out (Please note - only one code can be used). Your total payment amount will be discounted by the amount of zen coins you allocate to the purchase. Note that zen coins may only be redeemed for the purchase price of the product. Sales tax, shipping, and other handling charges assessed in addition to the price of the product are your responsibility and zen coins may not be used to discount these additional charges.
  • Exclusions. Only one account per natural person. Only one discount code can be redeemed per transaction. Rewards redemption codes may not be combined with any other discount codes. Zen Coins may not be transferred or gifted at this time. Zen Coins cannot be used on past purchases. Zen Coins accumulated on different accounts by different members may not be combined or aggregated to make purchases of products or for any other reason. Zen Coins earned in a transaction cannot be redeemed in the same transaction. Redeemed zen coins cannot be retroactively applied to any past order or receive a price adjustment on any order where redeemed zen coins were not applied. Zen Coins have no cash value outside of the ZenART Supplies website and are available only to members in good standing.
  • Zen Coins Expiration and Time Lapses. All zen coins acquired, whether standard zen coins or bonus zen coins, shall expire 180 days from the date the zen coins are added to your account. Zen Coins expire 180 days from the date in which they were assigned to your account. Specific onsite activities in which zen coins will be awarded are set to accrue zen coins based on a time-lapse at the discretion of ZenART Supplies.
    • Sign up: zen coins are added to your account instantly
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  • Once zen coins are redeemed, a discount code will be assigned and we are unable to cancel the discount code and reapply the zen coins to your Reward & Referral account. Discount codes generated by redeeming zen coins do not expire until used. They are a one-time use code, so once it is used it is gone. If an order is returned zen coins will not be reinstated.

4. Subscribe & Save Plan

  • Re-occurring purchase. Purchase is necessary in order to participate in this plan. The plan is worth $6.95 and will be charged to your account on the same date of the month that you purchased the plan, i.e. if you purchased the plan on 19th of January, you will be charged for the plan on the 19th of each month you are a Subscribe & Save Plan member.
  • 15% re-occurring discount. As a member of the subscribe & Save Plan, you are eligible for a 15% discount every time you put an order in place. You are qualified for the discount as soon as you purchase the plan.
  • Cancellation. After a purchase made with a Subscribe & Save Plan, you are not able to get a refund for the plan for the month the purchase was valid for but you can cancel for the following months.
  • Free samples & accessories. These are included for members of Subscribe & Save Plan only. These are not included in each order but the member will be informed when they will receive "extras" in their order.
  • Access to exclusive content. Exclusive access to tutorials, guides, tips & tricks in video, pdf, or audio format will be part of the membership program. Not all exclusive content is available but what is and will be available is up to ZenART Supplies sole discretion.

5. GENERAL

  • By registering with Zenartsupplies.co and joining the Reward & Referral Program, you agree to be bound by the terms and conditions set forth in these Terms and Conditions, as well as any other terms that may be associated with the Reward & Referral Program. ZenART Supplies reserves the right to cancel, modify, suspend or restrict the Reward & Referral Program, your account, the redemption of zen coins, or any aspect of the Program, including, without limitation, the zen coin conversion ratio and the zen coin expiration policy at any time. Any changes can be made without advance notice. ZenART Supplies may make these changes even though such changes may affect your ability to use zen coins already accumulated. You are responsible for remaining knowledgeable about the Program Terms and Conditions. A Member's zen coins balance, as reflected in ZenART Supplies records, shall be deemed correct. ZenART Supplies reserves the right to determine the amount of zen coins in any Member's account based on ZenART Supplies' internal records related to such Member's account. In the event of an inconsistency between the amount accrued in a Member's account as stated on any Member's receipt and ZenART Supplies internal records, ZenART Supplies internal records will control. ZenART Supplies assumes no responsibility for errors caused by incorrect Member information. Your right to transfer zen coins earned or granted under the Program is strictly limited. The sale of zen coins is prohibited and may result in the confiscation or cancellation of your zen coins as well as suspension or termination of your membership, which in each case shall be final and conclusive. All transactions involving zen coins and all Member accounts are subject to review and verification by ZenART Supplies. The zen coins balance in a Member's account may be unavailable for use when an account or transaction is under review. ZenART Supplies may revoke any Member's membership in the Reward & Referral Program at any time if such Member engages in abuse of the Reward & Referral Program or fails to follow the terms and conditions of the Program. Fraud or abuse relating to the accrual of zen coins or redemption of rewards may result in revocation of membership in the Program and may affect a Member's eligibility for participation in any other ZenART Supplies program, present or future. Zen Coins are non-transferable and cannot be redeemed for cash. The interpretation and application of the Program's Terms and Conditions are at the sole discretion and determination of ZenART Supplies. For more information or other questions, click on Contact Us.
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Toolkit

Oil Painting Brush Strokes and Techniques

Oil Painting Brush Strokes and Techniques

Oil Painting Brush Strokes | Types of Brush Strokes In Oil Painting | Oil Paint Brush Stroke Techniques

Before we go exploring the different oil painting brush strokes and techniques, you might be interested to head here after as well - How To Paint Watercolor Trees and Techniques. You'll find easy step by step guides to help you learn how to paint those trees and a video by ZenART's co-founder, Ardak Kassenova.


TABLE OF CONTENTS: Looking for something in particular? Jump ahead using the links below:

Types of Brush Strokes In Oil Painting
Alla Prima or Wet-on-Wet
Blending
Scumbling
Optical Color Mixing
Hatching and Cross Hatching
Feathering
Glazing
Sgraffito
Oil Paint Brush Stroke Techniques


Oil Painting Brush Strokes

Brush strokes are very important in oil painting. It's one of the challenging parts of it and one of the most fulfilling as well. Oil is the perfect medium to fully explore the different techniques and textures you can create, and how you can properly use them to convey the right look, effect, mood, atmosphere, and overall finish of your painting.

Take Vincent van Gogh's "The Starry Night", his expressive brush strokes fill the night sky with bursts of light. The stars are bright and twinkling, and the crescent moon is radiant. A beautiful contrast to the quiet town below.

"The Starry Night" by Vincent van Gogh, 1889. Oil on canvas.

Let's take a very close look at one particular spot of the painting - the moon. Look how thick the oil paint strokes are, the energetic directional and gestural strokes make the painting come alive with movement and contrast. 

The pigments used for the deep yellow of the moon and stars are Indian yellow and zinc yellow. The green and blue strokes around are cobalt blue and emerald green, the darker blue is artificial ultramarine.

Wouldn't it be great to learn how to paint like this someday? Let's take a look at the various oil paint brush strokes and techniques we need to start with below.

Get your ZenART Oil Mixing Guide
Get your ZenART oil mixing guide

Types of Brush Strokes In Oil Painting

For the brush strokes exercise above, I used various oil paints from the Essential Palette, Portrait Palette, and the Impressionist Palette of ZenART's Infinity Series of Oil Palettes. The brushes and palette knife are from the Renoir Collection.

Alla Prima or Wet-on-Wet

This technique is when you apply paint on top of a layer or layers of still wet paint. Artists who use this technique can possibly finish a painting in just one sitting. The challenge is to blend the colors just enough to create a blending effect. But at the same time being careful not to muddy up your painting with too much blending with the layers below.

"Claude Monet Painting by the Edge of a Wood" by John Singer Sargent, 1885. Oil on canvas. Sargent is a master in painting alla prima.
Colors used: Napthol Red and Cadmium Yellow Hue.

Blending

The beauty of oil is you can take as much time as you want when blending. Typically brushes with stiff enough bristles are used for oil painting. But if you're looking to create a perfectly soft and smooth blend, then use softer brushes. This technique is usually used when painting realistically. You need to define which parts have a hard edge, soft edge, and a lost edge - like the disappearing horizon across the sea.  

"Flower Still Life" by Ambrosius Bosschaert, 1614. Oil on copper foil leaf sheets. The blending is superbly masterful that everything looks so real. 
Colors used: Ultramarine Blue and Viridian.

Gradient Blending - You can use this technique to create smooth transitions between colors and to show subtle value changes. Take your time when using this technique as abrupt shifting in colors and values will look odd, unless of course it's meant to be such. So just be careful to keep those transitions. Keep in mind that when blending thoroughly, you will lose the textural quality and energy of more raw brush strokes. 

"Landscape with Charon Crossing the Styx" by Joachim Patinir, 1515-1524. See the smooth transitions from brighter blue to pale blue across the sky. And the deep blue-green color of the river turning turquoise the farther it goes.

Scumbling

The scumbling oil paint brush stroke is when you create a more textural transition from one color to another, a more blotchy kind of look. You use unthinned paint and apply it on the surface with broken strokes. Brushes with stiff bristles are great for this, as it will lift off some paint as well and show the underlying layer here and there. Push it against the canvas until the bristles splay a little. Then rotate the brush while painting, twisting and turning as you move along. Flat and round bristles are often used for this technique.

"Snow Storm: Steam-Boat off a Harbour's Mouth" by JMW Turner, 1842. Oil on canvas.
Colors used: Yellow Ochre and Cadmium Yellow Hue.

Optical Color Mixing

Optical color mixing is when you use two or more different colors (greater contrast gives a better effect) and apply them to create a sort of blend but without actually blending them with your brush. You first apply one color in similar broken strokes (uniform sized strokes) and allow it to dry. Then use another color and apply it on top of the previous color that's already dry. The idea behind this technique is similar to pointillism where you use dots to depict forms and also to render them. 

"A Sunday on La Grande Jatte" by Georges Seurat, 1884. Oil on canvas.
A closer look at the amazing optical color mixing done in this painting.
On the left: The colors can be clearly seen separately. But when you view them from afar, they start to blend with each other but without actually having been physically blended. Colors used: Viridian and Cadmium Yellow Hue.
color mixing guide

Hatching and Cross Hatching

Hatching is when you apply parallel lines over each other. With cross-hatching you apply them across each other like crosses and Xs. You can use a single color, or multiple colors. This technique lets you add extra texture to your oil paint strokes and adds more depth to your painting.

"Laboureur dans un Champ" by Vincent van Gogh, 1889. Oil.
Colors used: Napthol Red, Yellow Ochre, and Cadmium Yellow Hue.

Feathering

This technique uses brush strokes to make soft, feather-like edges. So if you don't like seeing hard or crisp edges on some parts of your painting, then "feathering" will give them soft and fine fanned out edges.

"Portrait of Elizabeth Campbell, Marchesa Di Spineto" by Henry Raeburn. 1812. Most of the painting has been painted with feathered edges, giving the impression of very soft skin, hair, and clothing.
Colors used: Ultramarine Blue and Cerulean Blue. The transition from one color to the next is quick but with softened edges.

Glazing

This is a very popular oil painting brush stroke technique. You start by having an opaque layer that has dried, then apply a thin and semi-transparent layer - a glaze - on top of it. You can paint as many layers as you want, just as long as you allow each layer to dry before adding the next one. The effect is a final work with colors that optically combine but the different color pigments actually remain pure and are not physically combined. This is a great technique for painting luminous skin tones as it gives a smooth blended effect.

"The Arnolfini Portrait" by Jan van Eyck, 1434. Oil on oak. He used the technique of painting several layers of thin translucent glazes on top of each other to create the effect of glowing and intense tones and colors. By using oil (that has slow drying time), he was able to take his time and paint wet-on-wet or alla prima. This allowed him to blend colors perfectly to render the natural gradations between light and shadow. 
My own painting using the glazing technique. Most oil colors/paints used are from the Portrait Palette of the Infinity Series Oil Palettes. Glazing is the perfect technique for painting luminous and beautiful skin.

Painting skin tones can be quite daunting at first. But if you know the right steps to take, you'll get better results before you know it. Find out how in this Oil Painting Skin Tones article.

Underpainting

This is not a brush stroke per se, but it's a very useful technique to learn. It's the first layer applied to the ground of your chosen painting support. There are several kinds and methods of underpainting. The most common purpose for using it is to plot out the composition and lines, and establish the values before adding the color to your painting. Some artists prefer to do a very detailed and complete monochromatic underpainting of their subject. While others use a loose sketching oil paint stroke that's more gestural and just for blocking in the major elements of the composition.

"The Madonna and Child with St. John and Angels", also known as "The Manchester Madonna," an unfinished painting that is attributed to Michelangelo showing the underpainting technique.
Colors used: Yellow Ochre, Viridian, and Titanium White.

Sgraffito

Although you don't technically use the hair/bristles of your brush for this technique, I'll still include this here. It's still a kind of way of creating "strokes" though instead of applying paint, you remove it. You can use the tip of your brush's handle or a palette knife to do this. 

"Self-portrait as a Young Man" by Rembrandt, 1628. Oil on panel. The texture of the hair was created using the sgraffito technique.
Colors used: Prussian Blue, Ultramarine Blue, and Cerulean Blue. I used the tip of the handle to create the marks.

Oil Paint Brush Stroke Techniques

Using The Right Brushes and Supports

It's important to get acquainted with your different brushes and see what kind of oil painting brush strokes you can do with each one. The type of hair, the size and shape of the bristles, the length of the brush will all influence the look and effect of your brush strokes. I personally am a big Filbert brush fan, it's the most versatile brush for me. It's flat but with a rounded shape, so I can do broad, thin, rough, and smooth strokes with it. Experiment with each kind of brush that you have so you'll find out which ones to use for specific techniques and painting styles.

Some of the brushes from the Renoir Collection, a 14 pc brush set that comes in a sleek satin case.
My personal favorites are the filbert brushes, I also used the fan brush to create smooth blending. All from the Renoir Collection. Oil paints are from the Infinity Series Oil Palettes of ZenART Supplies.

The canvas is the most popular support, the texture is not too rough nor too smooth. If you're looking for a smoother one, wood is great and also oil primed linen with a finer texture (they come in several kinds and thickness). So if your painting is meant to be smooth, it's better to use a smoother surface so you don't need to load up a lot of paint just to get that smooth finish. If you're not aiming for anything smooth and glossy, then a regular canvas is fine. The more stable your support is, the more paint thickness it can handle. 

On the left: The back of a stretched canvas, it's important to have a properly stretched one so the cloth remains tight especially if you're going to paint thickly. Once the paint dries, you want your support to remain stable so the paint won't move and cause cracking.

Using The Right Amount of Brush Strokes

This is a skill you will learn and get better at with time and continuous practice. Knowing how to apply the oil paint brush strokes and just as importantly, knowing when to stop. So when you find yourself pleased with what you've done, step back and don't overwork it. I know this too well, sometimes I just can't help myself and end up with a mess instead - oops! Try to think about how you will go about painting each part, so you can plan for it as best as you can.

Different effects and styles can be achieved depending on the amount of brush strokes you use. So try each one out, that way you'll know the right amount of brush strokes to use for your paintings.

Choosing The Right Brush Strokes

Ask yourself what you're trying to achieve. Do you want to show a lot of texture? A soft and diffused effect? Luminous skin? Or maybe you're trying to create a certain atmosphere? Once you've answered these kinds of questions then you'll have an easier time deciding which oil paint strokes would work best for what you have in mind. If you're not too sure yet or haven't really made up your mind between certain effects, then make quick studies trying them both out. This would really help you see them in actuality rather than just imagining them.

All the oil paints used are from the three different Infinity Series Oil Palettes of ZenART Supplies. Lighfast oil paints with a high pigment load. They have a soft and buttery consistency making them very versatile, from fine glazes to heavy impasto applications. And best of all, they're non-toxic and free from harmful driers and solvent fumes.

The size and direction of your brush strokes will also affect the look and feel of your painting. Like when painting grass, you would brush upwards to form fine tips, and vary the direction as well to show movement. 

I hope you found that useful and helpful. The best way to learn is to try them all out yourself. Remember to be kind to yourself, even if you don't like what you end up with I'm sure you'll learn something from it. Brush strokes give our paintings their own kind of personalities and stories that are just irreplaceable. So try to have fun with the process and just keep experimenting and exploring. You can learn more about the techniques behind oil color mixing, use of diluents and solvents, and other tips in our Oil Paint Mixing Guide.

We'd love to hear back from you!

Which brush strokes are you familiar with? Do you have a favorite brush stroke that you use more often than the others? Which brush strokes are you looking forward to try out and experiment with? What future content would you like to see from us? Let us know what you think, we'd love to hear back from you. Feel free to leave a comment, and we'll be happy to answer any queries you have. Join our friendly art community, Painting Inspiration Daily for ideas, LIVE video tutorials, and guidance to help motivate you!

On our next Toolkit article - How To Clean Acrylic Paint Brushes. Learn how to keep those treasured brushes clean and in good shape for a long time. Until then, have a wonderful time learning the different oil painting brush strokes and techniques!


- MEET THE AUTHOR-

Kathleen is the Wordsmith at ZenART, resident artist and art editor. When God sent a shower of talents, Kathleen made sure she got a basketful of them! She's a visual artist with practical knowledge on various fields from painting and sculpture, to costume and set design which comes in very handy when writing about various art techniques and theories. She also shares her passion for the arts through teaching. She runs her own brand of handmade wirework jewellery designs.


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