This was the front of a Birthday Card that I painted for a lovely lady, called June.

A painting I painted which was inspired by a palette knife piece, this is just done with water colours and acrylics.

What are the common subjects of the paintings? Most palette knife paintings are portraits, or of people / animals. This is because palette knives produce clean but not very accurate marks on the page / canvas etc. The elaborate colours of the oil paints usually create a strong emotion; These emotions are not usually portrayed with an object such as a bowl of fruit. However, it is not impossible to have objects as the main subject of the painting - lots of successful artists paint objects like Shoes, teddy bears and other intimate objects. This - when done correctly - is just as successful.

What is a palette knife? A palette knife is one of many tools used for painting. It is usually a smaller tool, and looks kind of like a cake server. However, palette knifes are slimmer and are a more consistent shape. Palette knives were originally used for collecting, distributing and mixing oil paints; More recently, however, painters have been experimenting with the tools and using them for the application of the paint. The palette knife technique portrays a lot more emotion and takes a greater amount of skill to make dashes and wipes of paint, look like a recognisable and lifelike imagine / object.

The Art of Palette Paintings. Palette Knives produce a wider mark than the marks of a paintbrush, which is why, up close, it can sometimes be hard to fully make out the image in the painting. Most paintings show a clearer image when viewed from a distance. Also, by using a palette knife, the thickness of the layer of paint makes the colours look more vibrant, and not as dull as they might look if were mixed with water, and diluted.

Leonid Afremov - Youtube Clip - Leonid Afremov, official page.

My 2 favourites!


I have 2 favourite painters, both of them do pallet knife paintings.

1. Leonid Afremov : Afremov is a Israeli painter. He does many different art exhibitions and his paintings are more landscapes. Afremov paints with lots of warm colours, and they usually have a subject - often a person / a couple.  By adding a couple, or a person, it makes the painting instantly more relatable - therefore, people will want spend more time looking at the paintings and his work. He has also produced one painting in cold colours, with a small yellow boat
2. Paul Wright : Wright is another pallet knife painter. He focuses more on the physical side of things : Portraits, objects. his main focus is portraits where he uses different colours to portray the emotions he wants the viewer to feel. he also smudges the paintings in places to add more texture and to display how the characters are feeling inside. Ones with a more 'wild' approach to their strokes could have more going on in their head - they may be angry or stressed; the ones with a neater finish come across as more peaceful and relaxed, or in some cases, upset. on the other hand, he sometimes paints objects such as shoes. these paintings are usually of scruffy shoes or shoes with holes in them - sometimes however, he paints shoes that look very clean and unworn - but he always manage to produce emotion.