Small Brushes

[Catherine Ingleby]

Jesse,

I had a look at your painting and it seems as though you aren't getting bogged down in detail and that it has a powerful overall effect. Personally I use hog bristle brushes to lay in and then sables to blend, glaze and for fine details. I always use the cat tongue shape in both types, except for my background brushes which are broader and flatter. I use several at the same time so as not to muddy the colours or to allow them to absorb too much turps.

I think it is worth investing in a good set of brushes, the better the quality the less likely they they are to split or shed hair and the longer they will last and hold their shape.

To look after them, I wipe off excess paint then wash them in soap and warm water, mashing them round in a turps jar destroys their shape and longevity!!

Catherine

[Michele Rushworth]

Thanks Catherine for your tips on brush types and brush care. I've been buying lots of soft synthetic hair brushes and it seems that after four or five days of painting I need new ones because they're all splayed out! (Of course I do mash them around in a turps jar -- I'll stop doing that and try the warm-soap-and-water you suggested.)


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I've got a question for you and others: do you really feel that higher quality brushes last long enough to make them worth the investment? Will a $10 brush really last more than three times longer than a $3.30 brush if cared for in the same way?

Thanks!

[Jim Riley]

I use brushes up to 3" or 4" to block in color and often maintain some of this as I work my way down in brush size to get final detail. This is partly my painting style but also prevents the painting from looking as though many hours were spent filling canvas with thousands of labored brush strokes. I don't consider viewer response "That painting must have taken a long time and effort" as a compliment.

Since I like to have brush strokes remain as evidence that a caring craftsman and not a machine or camera has put this painting together my brush strokes remain (so long as they achieve the loftier goal of true likeness and good painting). It's therefore a great deal of fun to get to the small stuff/strokes that make big/important contibutions to likeness. The corners of the mouth, highlights on the skin and in the eyes and so on. The contrast within the painting of 3" brush to little highlights in the corner of the eye make the smaller strokes look like gems.

I guess my point is that just as the play of warm and cool as well as light and dark are important contributions to an interesting painting so too is large and small shapes and brushstrokes.
It seems to me that it is easier to blend and soften the evidence of big brush strokes, color and value if the painting finally requires then it is to add same to a labored, flat or listless painting.

[Renee Brown]

I start off the background with 1 3/4" Purdy brushes, available at Home Depot (recommended by a WS instructor). Boy, does that save time and really creates a nice background (no little strokes).

Then, I switch to two one inchers (expensive da Vincis) for the layin. After a while 3/4" synthetics and finally for the facial details, my all time favorite, a Kolinsky sable number 4.

BTW, the best brush cleaner I have found is Murphy's oil soap. It'll even removed caked on paint out of the ferrules with some gentle kneading.

Renee