Andrew Wyeth "Wood Stove", 1962, dry brush on paper. 35x68 cm

I have recently read an article written by Peter V. Nielsen on drybrush technique. The title of the article is Drybrush – a watercolour technique explored by Andrew Wyeth.  I find it very interesting that Andrew Wyeth divide his watercolor into plain watercolor and dry brush.  He might start with plain watercolor techique but changes partly or fully into this more expressive dry brush technique.  After I read Peter Nielsen’s article and the Wood Stove painting by Andrew Wyeth in 1962, I want to try this myself but could not find much information on the web about this technique.

Watercolor Painting Dry Brush - Pear

Then I found a site by an artist in Trento Italy called Ottorino De Lucchi.   He has develope a  dry brush technique over the years which allows the painting to maintain the brightness of the watercolor.  I saw his paintings on the web and it amazes me with the detail and brightness of it that I want to try it myself.  So I read his article on the technique which he generously share and started with a small study of a pear.  I have started with the dry brush technique he mentioned with layers and layers of dry color right from the palette but the result was needless to say, quite disappointing.  I have put layers upon layers of color to build it up as in Ottorino’s instruction but still I am not happy with the result.  I found that this technique is very time consuming and I have much to learn and to study about this dry brush watercolor technique.  Nevertheless I will try to finish this study in a few days and keep it as reference for my future watercolor technique.  Well, here it is showing my unsuccessful attempt on learning the dry brush technique.  I will write about it tomorrow and show my finish watercolor study tomorrow.