All about brushes

Artist’s brushes are tools of the trade. But they’re far more than a stick with some bristles.

If you’re a painter there is a very special connection with your brushes. They are the last link in the chain between your imagination and the surface upon which you will be creating your image.

Craftspeople often have an almost spiritual link with that special chisel, file or tool.

It came home to me recently when one of my favourite watercolour brushes was missing. A No. 9 sable, that I’d bought as a student nearly half a century ago, – gone!  In my student days, it had been a considerable expenditure – but now, though I could easily afford to replace it, I was profoundly saddened.  I had convinced myself it was irreplaceable.

A question formed in my mind – was it the brush that fitted my style of painting, or had I subtley modified my technique to exploit its properties?

Watercolour brushes.

I think that watercolour brushes, more than any other, have special qualities. They are usually made of hair, where brushes for other media may generally be bristle or synthetic.

Squirrel or (ideally) sable hair has a lovely springy quality, and when wet, forms an ideal shape.

When I was teaching watercolour technique, it used to make me smile to see students with incredibly fine brushes with hardly any hair, which they believed were necessary for fine work.  The truth is that even quite a large brush of good quality, when properly wet will form itself into a beautifully fine point.

Watercolour painting is as much (if not more) about painting with water as with paint. So the ability to hold water is a key feature of these tools. Most water colourists have a selection of brushes including a large ‘mop’ or two. These are wonderful for soaking backgrounds and creating exciting ‘wet in wet’ effects – with more than a little serendipity.

Care of water colour brushes

I don’t need to say much here, as there’s a huge number of articles and posts on-line covering the topic. But do look after these brushes. They are very easy to clean and take care of. Even dried in watercolour will wash out with careful attention – so no excuses.

Don’t ignore the shape of the brush, and do allow it to dry naturally – please don’t leave it stood in a water pot to take on an uncomfortable curve

Do keep your watercolour brushes solely for watercolour. They can be used for oil painting if necessary and very carefully cleaned with solvent immediately after use – but as we know, oil and water don’t mix. So keep your brushes separate if you can.

For me, the big no-no is using watercolour brushes for acrylics. Yes, they are both water based media, but where watercolour washes out even when dry, once acrylic has set it turns to plastic. And it’s really difficult to wash out completely even while still wet.

Brushes for oils and acrylics

As I noted earlier, these tend to be bristle. Various man-made materials are also used and are particularly good for acrylic painting. There is something about the springiness of bristle which is very satisfying in use – especially on stretched canvas.

They can hold thick pigment – and in oil and acrylic painting you most often paint light upon dark – opposite to watercolour. So you tend to have more pigment on the brush. I find these brushes encourage me to be more vigorous and spontaneous.

Bristle and synthetic brushes tend to be quite tough. So even though they urge you to work them hard, they should last long enough to become special favourites. As they are relatively inexpensive compared to sable brushes, you can keep separate sets for oils and acrylics – I tend to seek out sets of different coloured brushes to avoid any disasterous mis-selections.

More brush care

Again, there’s plenty of advice about brush-care. My personal regime is to wash brushes used for acrylics immediately, in warm water, and massage neat washing-up liquid into them while doing so. Then rince out until clean.

Oil paint is very slow drying, so is easy to clean at the end of a painting session. Use your favourite solvent and work it deep into the bristles. Once all the paint is out,  wrapping the bristles loosely in newspaper or kitchen towel will help them keep their shape.

It’s worth the trouble to look after them – and they will soon become faithful companions and the conduits for your creativity.

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