[Tom Edgerton]

I choose what to pick up by what edge quality I want, usually.

Brushes are as individual as fingerprints, and each takes on a particular character as they wear. So by the time one is completely gone, I hate to see it go, because I won't have another exactly like it. I have to break them in two when they are finally exhausted, otherwise I'd continue to scratch along with them long after I should.

In general, I use larger bristles, usually filberts, to mass in and to create the underpainting. I usually finish with sables, but don't forget rags, paper towels, other wet and dry brushes, and your best friends, your fingers. Each gives a particular edge quality.

I use the bristles when I want to cut paint into the layers that are already there, mixing on the canvas. I use the sables when I want the paint to sit on top of the layers already there, because they're softer, and they disturb what's underneath less. I use a sable-synthetic mix, as they are a little "springy-er" and I don't wear them out as fast as 100% sable brushes.

Silver Brush has a so-called "long filbert." I bought several and didn't like them at first--they were really floppy--but now I really like them because they allow a lot of variety and control to the stroke, but prevent me from overcontrolling and becoming too anal--still a problem for me.

Best--TE