A Brush in the hand

What makes a good paintbrush?

The range can be overwhelming, but choosing the right brush, as with any tool, makes the job much easier.

To begin with, for watercolour you can rule out hogs bristle (meant for oil paints). Some watercolorists swear by squirrel brushes, but many of the new acrylic brushes are just as good, and much cheaper. And no chasing of squirrels is involved. Most art suppliers will have a designated wc brush section, which simplifies things.

The next thing to consider is shape – and there are lots. But each one has a different purpose so I thought I’d show you the handful that I choose to paint with. Always use the biggest brush that you can to save fiddling , and remember that a bigger painting needs a bigger brush.

From left to right…..
This is a round brush. They come in lots of sizes. These are a great basic brush as you can use them on their sides for larger areas and use the tip for finer work.

Next brush is a flat – again they come in lots of sizes, great for painting buildings. (When you think about it, to paint anything with straight lines like a house you’re better off with a straight sided brush like this. If you’re painting something like a portrait or a flower, then it’ll work better with a curved brush as you don’t need straight lines).

Next is the creme de la creme of wc brushes – a squirrel mop. These are also top of the price range. They hold a LOT of water and can be challenging for beginners, great if you’re painting vast expanse of sky. I rarely use mine but love looking at them!

The next brush is my old favourite. This was the first brush that I bought when I began painting about 25 years ago, and it’s still going strong , though the ferrule is getting a bit wobbly. It’s called a cats tongue, and while the fat bit holds lots of paint for washes the tip is incredibly fine and can paint tiny details. I often complete a whole painting just with this one. I haven’t been able to track down another (sadly the writing on the handle wore off long ago) but the closest I can find are these from Gordon Harris. I recommend that you look at them in the shop to choose a size (there are quite a few) as the size numbers don’t seem to match any of mine.

Last in the line up is a fan brush– these can make lots of interesting marks but please don’t get carried away! It’s tempting to overdo lots of clumps of grass with them. I like to use them for painting bushes and trees, getting lots of paint on board then twisting and pushing them into the paper to form random squishy marks.

So, play with the brushes you have, become familiar with all the ways you can use them, and don’t feel you have to rush out and spend lots of money on new ones.

The way you paint determines which tools you need and you probably need a lot fewer than you think.

Other news….

My “Flights of Fancy” bird workshop in Wellington was good fun. Everybody worked hard to produce some beautiful paintings, and hopefully learnt plenty to help them on their painting journey.

I’m looking forward to next weekend’s WCNZ Paintaway down the road at Lake Brunner , with over 70 watercolour artists registered! We’ll be painting around and about the area for the weekend, with a pop up exhibition at the Moana Community Hall (all welcome)- so please keep an eye out for painters if you’re passing 🙂

The Wai Knot plein air group is also going well. We’ve enjoyed meeting up about once a month to paint together around Tasman, just let me know if you’d like me to put you on the email list. Next meet up is near the Boatshed cafe on Rocks Rd, Nelson at around 9am on Weds 15th May and you’re very welcome to join us there.

Enjoy the autumn,
Jan 🙂