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At some point in time if you are
serious about watercolour painting then you will need to know what kind of
brushes are out there to assist you in achieving a beautiful finished picture.
Generally there are two types of brushes that are available to artists:
Soft hair brushes like natural sable and squirrel hair and hard hair bristle brushes. Soft hair brushes are the most popular choice amongst artists and highly recommended.
The most popular soft hair brushes used by artists for watercolour painting today are the sable brushes.
Sable brushes are more resilient and hold far more paint than other soft hair
brushes, the only drawback being the higher price you have to pay for the better
quality brushes.
Some artists obviously cannot stretch
to buying the higher cost brushes and so go for a cheaper alternative which are
a synthetic soft bristle brush. This type of brush is made from man made fibres
and so are an inferior quality to the sable brush. You can of course get the
same effect using either brush type the difference is the amount of paint each
of the brushes hold.
Some watercolourists use brushes that have a
combination of manmade and real hair brushes which again are a cheaper
alternative to the sable or squirrel hair brush. To clean watercolour
brushes I wash them in washing up liquid it keeps the hair healthy.
The second thing a budding
artist needs to know about brushes are the shapes available:
Round Brushes: The hair of these brushes are round and can be shaped into an
fine point. Obviously there are a number of sizes available the small being
better for the more detailed work and the larger for applying watercolour
washes.
Wash Brushes: These
brushes are usually large and forms a mop like shape used primarily for applying washes.
Flat Brush:
The flat brushes are square and flat in shape and start from about a quarter of
an inch upwards. These brushes are made for applying washes over larger areas.
Large Flat Wash Brushes:
The large flat wash brush looks very similar to the regular flat wash brush only its a little larger, usually about 2 inches wide. This brush is also excellent for laying down washes over large areas.
Rigger Brush: As the name implies this type of brush has long hairs and is ideal for painting rigging
on boats, or any fine line including branches of a tree and grasses etc.
There are many other brushes out there now each having their own special use
such as leaves, trees, grass and many other things. Most of us build up a
selection of brushes over a long period because to go out and buy all the
different sizes and shapes available would be too expensive.
Usually if you become a member of a
painting club or society they offer quite good discounts on brushes, paints and
other craft materials.
So no excuses..... Get painting!!!!!
Note: You can view a bigger
version of the watercolour paintings by placing your mouse
curser on the image and click. A new window will open with the
bigger image. When finished viewing, just close the window and
come back here to view the other watercolour paintings.
Additional ordering information
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