Oil Brushes

Orville Villanueva · 05-18-2002, 04:52 AM

I'm interested in buying new oil brushes but I'm not quite sure which brands/types of brushes I should buy. In terms of money, I have an extra $400 to spend - can someone give me some suggestions?

Thanks,
Orville V.

Michael Georges · 05-18-2002, 07:53 AM

Hello Orville and Welcome!

For oils, I find that I use both firm and soft brushes. This is just me, but I like to use bristle brushes for underpainting, and the softer sables and mongoose brushes for overpainting in color.

I use a variety of sizes and shapes, but I have my favorites. I love a good flat brush - there is almost nothing I cannot do with it. Also, a #1 round is great.

I can recommend the Isabey Mongoose brushes. I have nearly the whole set and I really like them. They are firm near the ferrule, and quite soft near the tip. It makes them springy enough to do deep spreads of paint while remaining soft enought to blend with. I use them only in the color stages. My ground has tooth and wears down brushes, so I would rather wear down a $4 bristle brush than one of these.

As to natural vs synthetic, I find that I don't like pure synthetics for oils, but have several blended synthetic/natural that work very well.

Hope that helps!

Juan Martinez · 05-18-2002, 09:09 AM

Orville

The best brushes I have ever found for oil painting--combining many of the advantages that Michael pointed out--are the Winsor & Newton "Monarch" brushes. They are synthetic; meant to emulate mongoose. I am also familiar with the Isabey Mongoose brushes and I feel the W&N offerings are as good or better than the real thing. I use almost exclusively filbert-shaped brushes, throughout their entire size range. Filberts allow you to be both precise and loose, or to apply either rounded or squared-off brush strokes--a very versatile shape. The Monarchs are springy, too. That is, they are not too soft and not too stiff. Paint comes off of them completely and they are easily cleaned. (That is one reason I never use bristle brushes, except as trowels; because more paint stays on the brush than goes on the canvas. And, they are un-cleanable). The Monarch brushes are remarkably durable and although more expensive than most lines of brushes, they tend to last longer.

I understand that the same brush is now being offered by another company under a different brand name for somewhat less than the price of the Winsor & Newton version. I guess that the manufacturer was not W&N per se, but rather a sub-contractor. Whatever deal they had with W & N has probably run out and now they make the brushes for others. If you're interested, I'll try to find out what the name of that other company is. In the meantime, I recommend the Monarchs highly.

All the best.

Juan

Mari DeRuntz · 05-18-2002, 11:06 AM

Juan,

The cheaper brush you're referring to might be the Robert Simmons "Sienna" series.... They've got a good deal on a set through Jerry's Artarama, ten brushes various shapes and sizes for around $35.00.

Anyway, I definitely use bristles in the underlayers, where there's a lot of loose, scrubbing going on, and the WN Monarchs are great detail brushes because they hold enough paint....

Rochelle Brown · 05-19-2002, 03:20 AM

Hi Orville,

I don't know much about the above mentioned brushes but I've had good luck with Sceptor Gold from Winsor and Newton.

I use older cheaper brushes for under painting. I'm pretty rough on my brushes and end up throwing a lot of them out. There are a couple that turned into nice blenders and I nick name them "my mashers". The Sceptor Golds have retained their flatness. They are a blend of sable and synthetic.

Orville Villanueva · 05-19-2002, 02:21 PM

Michael, Juan, Mari, Rochelle,

Thank you so much for the great advice and information. I went over to the local art store here in San Jose, and purchased 5-sets of each brush type--filberts, rounds, liners, etc. Half of the brushes I purchased are Winsor Newton Monarch brushes (Flats & Filberts) and the remaining group are Kolinsky Red Sable. I thought it would be good to have the best of both worlds and purchase the good stuff since I've been stuck using bristle and synthetic nylon brushes throughout my study at the university. I'm sure these new brushes will bring me less pain and better work as I continue to practice and study portraiture. Thank you all again for the great advice and information as it helped me so much in making my purchase.

By the way, I will have one painting I'd like critiqued--it's not exactly a portrait but more like a figure study and fabric painting exercise. I will post this painting soon after I use the new brushes for the detail work. Thank you, again.

Sincerely,
Orville Villanueva
(BA Fine Arts San Jose State University)

Renee Price · 05-19-2002, 08:20 PM

It may be too late, but my favorite sable brushes are from the Dick Blick catalog, the Master Stroke line. I bought a set of filberts and I have been VERY pleased with them. Like most everyone else, I use bristle brushes for underpaints or loose works.

Hope this helps for the future,
Renee Price

Chris Kolupski · 06-11-2002, 02:57 PM

I agree with Renee Price and have remained loyal to Dick Blick precisely because of their superior line of Masterstroke interlocked hog bristle brushes. I believe these brushes were designed to duplicate the Grand Prix line of brushes produced by Silverbrush Ltd., generally regarded to be among the finest brushes in the world. Like Silverbrush Ltd., Blick's Masterstroke brushes have matte-finished handles, copper coated ferrules and, most importantly, high quality interlocked hog bristle. The only difference is that the Blick brushes are SLIGHTLY less fat and bushy, which I prefer, as it allows me a sharper edge when using flats or filberts.

By the way, I prefer interlocked bristle brushes to those with straightened hog hair, (like Blick's newer Master and Studio lines.) Interlocked brushes use hog hair in its natural curved state. Brush makers then mold the curved hairs to face the center of the brush, "interlocking" them at the top edge or point. This inward curvature of the bristle allows a paintstroke to hold a consistent width from start to finish. The internal tension of opposed, curved bristles also gives a brush more snap and spring. Experience teaches that interlocked bristles also hold up better over time. After years of use, all brushes wear down and splay out, but interlocked bristles seem to hold their shape better and "season" with time. A worn down interlocked filbert can have a second life as a bushy bright. Anyway, I like to think so because it keeps me from tossing out old brushes that I have an attachment to.