How do you decide what kind of edges your shapes will have? When do you decide, for that matter? Can you put off the moment when you have to commit to hard or soft?
You may have seen that it's not easy to convert a hard edge to a soft one. Once a stroke has dried it gets stubborn. Soft edges, on the other hand, can easily be made hard. Just let the paper dry and make a new stroke on top of the soft one.
Here's a painting by Trevor Chamberlain that uses almost exclusively soft edges.
Once the paper dried the artist made a few hard edged strokes on top of the layer of soft edged shapes.
A good way to find out which edges want to be hard is to make a painting that has no hard edges. choose an image with a few simple shapes. Wet the paper thoroughly, then paint your shapes before the paper has a chance to dry. wetting both sides helps prolong the drying time.
Stand back and ask where, if anywhere, the painting needs greater clarity or density. Make a couple of strokes where they seem most needed. The strokes needn't be entirely hard. You can make a stroke and immediately soften part of it with a damp brush.
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