Art Lesson: Blending Techniques. Many artists are defined by their blending techniques. A blend is the gradual transition from one color to another. Oil paint, because it takes time to dry, allows you to move the wet paint around on the canvas. This makes it easy to do the thing most difficult to do with other types of paint, the blend. All brushes will blend oil paint. Flat brushes are best. Colors are mixed on a palette and applied on the canvas. The brush is dragged back and forth in a crosshatch stroke between two values until a satisfactory transition is made. Value is the lightness or darkness of a hue by adding black or white to a color. Parallel strokes are used to refine the transition of values. A clean brush is used for the dark to middle and another clean brush for the light to middle. Wyland demonstrates how his blending techniques can create a flowing underwater scene.
