Oil Painting Tips – All About Oil Painting Brushes
Ralph Serpe asked:
Oil painting brushes come in a wide variety of sizes and shapes and this can sometimes overwhelm a beginner. This article will provide you with an overview of the various oil painting brushes available and help you decide what kind of brushes you should invest in.
BRUSH TEXTURES
Oil painting brushes come in two different textures basically, and they are classified as hard and soft. Hard brushes are generally referred to as “bristle brushes” and they are quite resilient. Hard brushes are made from hog’s hair and they are strong and stiff. They will hold a good amount of paint and can handle the oil painting medium quite well. I personally prefer working with bristle brushes exclusively as I tend to paint rather rough and direct.
Soft oil painting brushes are made from softer hairs that come from animals like sable, squirrel, or mongoose. Softer brushes will generally give your painting a softer smoother appearance and are more often used for finishing or detailed work. Sable brushes are the most expensive usually but there are synthetic brushes made of nylon that are very good substitutes for sable. They are more resilient and cheaper than sable.
BRUSH SHAPES
There are five shapes to brushes that are generally used and each is meant to have its own function. I prefer to paint with flats, brights and fliberts of various sizes, and only occasionally make use of the other shapes. This is my preference and you will certainly develop your own the longer you paint with oils.
Flats
Flat oil painting brushes have a wide square end with medium to long hairs. Flat brushes generally have a lot of spring to them and can hold a lot of paint. You can use these brushes for broad sweeping strokes or you can turn the brush on its edge to create fine lines. Flat brushes are great for earlier stages of a painting when you are blocking in large areas.
Brights
Bright oil painting brushes are similar in shape to flat brushes but the hairs are shorter. They are best used for making shorter controlled strokes. They do not hold nearly as much paint as a flat brush.
Filberts
The filbert is also similar to the flat brush only the edge of the brush comes to a rounded shape. The hairs of the filbert are medium to long in length. This rounded shape will give you more control then a bright. The filbert is great for blending and figurative work.
Rounds
A round oil painting brush has a round or pointed tip. They hold a nice amount of paint and are great for making thin or thick lines. Use this brush for dabbing on dots or blotches of color. Round brushes are also good for washes, fills and detailed work. They are not suited for creating hard straight edges.
Fans
The fan oil painting brush is a flat fan shaped brush. The fan brush is a specialized brush. It is either used very often by the artist or not at all. It really depends on your style of painting. This brush is not suited for holding paint. It is used more often for blending colors and you should keep this brush clean and dry if you plan to do a lot of blending during a session. The brush will begin to lose its effectiveness when it becomes filled with paint. You may want to keep a few extras on hand.
BRUSH SIZE
Oil painting brushes come in a variety of sizes indicated by numbers as in 1,2,4,6,8,10; size 1 being the smallest and 10 the largest in this example.
BRUSH MANUFACTURERS
Oil painting brushes are made by a number of different manufacturers. A few of the more popular brands are Winsor & Newton, Silver Brush and Robert Simmons. Some artists prefer one brand over another. Other artists like to have an assortment of different brands available. The only way you will know what you like best is by working with the brushes yourself.
CARING FOR YOUR BRUSHES
No matter what brush you buy, whether they are top of the line expensive brushes, or cheaper ones, you will definitely get more life out of them if you care for them properly. There seems to be a difference of opinion when it comes to brush care, especially when it comes to drying your brushes. I personally have two products on hand for cleaning and conditioning my brushes: Masters Brush Cleaner and Preserver and Mona Lisa Pink Brush Soap. I have found that the Masters Brush Cleaner works great on brushes that are deeply stained and hardened with paint, that I would have otherwise thrown out. I use the Mona Lisa Pink Brush Soap to clean my brushes right after a painting session. These cleaners will also help condition your brushes.
After washing my brushes with either of these cleaners, I then attach a clothes pin to the handle of the brush and rest the clothes pin on the edge of a counter or table so that the brush is hanging with the bristles pointing toward the floor. Gravity then pulls the moisture from the brush so that it does not collect in the ferrule, which can damage a brush over time.
I hope this article has helped. Best of luck and happy painting!
Oil painting brushes come in a wide variety of sizes and shapes and this can sometimes overwhelm a beginner. This article will provide you with an overview of the various oil painting brushes available and help you decide what kind of brushes you should invest in.
BRUSH TEXTURES
Oil painting brushes come in two different textures basically, and they are classified as hard and soft. Hard brushes are generally referred to as “bristle brushes” and they are quite resilient. Hard brushes are made from hog’s hair and they are strong and stiff. They will hold a good amount of paint and can handle the oil painting medium quite well. I personally prefer working with bristle brushes exclusively as I tend to paint rather rough and direct.
Soft oil painting brushes are made from softer hairs that come from animals like sable, squirrel, or mongoose. Softer brushes will generally give your painting a softer smoother appearance and are more often used for finishing or detailed work. Sable brushes are the most expensive usually but there are synthetic brushes made of nylon that are very good substitutes for sable. They are more resilient and cheaper than sable.
BRUSH SHAPES
There are five shapes to brushes that are generally used and each is meant to have its own function. I prefer to paint with flats, brights and fliberts of various sizes, and only occasionally make use of the other shapes. This is my preference and you will certainly develop your own the longer you paint with oils.
Flats
Flat oil painting brushes have a wide square end with medium to long hairs. Flat brushes generally have a lot of spring to them and can hold a lot of paint. You can use these brushes for broad sweeping strokes or you can turn the brush on its edge to create fine lines. Flat brushes are great for earlier stages of a painting when you are blocking in large areas.
Brights
Bright oil painting brushes are similar in shape to flat brushes but the hairs are shorter. They are best used for making shorter controlled strokes. They do not hold nearly as much paint as a flat brush.
Filberts
The filbert is also similar to the flat brush only the edge of the brush comes to a rounded shape. The hairs of the filbert are medium to long in length. This rounded shape will give you more control then a bright. The filbert is great for blending and figurative work.
Rounds
A round oil painting brush has a round or pointed tip. They hold a nice amount of paint and are great for making thin or thick lines. Use this brush for dabbing on dots or blotches of color. Round brushes are also good for washes, fills and detailed work. They are not suited for creating hard straight edges.
Fans
The fan oil painting brush is a flat fan shaped brush. The fan brush is a specialized brush. It is either used very often by the artist or not at all. It really depends on your style of painting. This brush is not suited for holding paint. It is used more often for blending colors and you should keep this brush clean and dry if you plan to do a lot of blending during a session. The brush will begin to lose its effectiveness when it becomes filled with paint. You may want to keep a few extras on hand.
BRUSH SIZE
Oil painting brushes come in a variety of sizes indicated by numbers as in 1,2,4,6,8,10; size 1 being the smallest and 10 the largest in this example.
BRUSH MANUFACTURERS
Oil painting brushes are made by a number of different manufacturers. A few of the more popular brands are Winsor & Newton, Silver Brush and Robert Simmons. Some artists prefer one brand over another. Other artists like to have an assortment of different brands available. The only way you will know what you like best is by working with the brushes yourself.
CARING FOR YOUR BRUSHES
No matter what brush you buy, whether they are top of the line expensive brushes, or cheaper ones, you will definitely get more life out of them if you care for them properly. There seems to be a difference of opinion when it comes to brush care, especially when it comes to drying your brushes. I personally have two products on hand for cleaning and conditioning my brushes: Masters Brush Cleaner and Preserver and Mona Lisa Pink Brush Soap. I have found that the Masters Brush Cleaner works great on brushes that are deeply stained and hardened with paint, that I would have otherwise thrown out. I use the Mona Lisa Pink Brush Soap to clean my brushes right after a painting session. These cleaners will also help condition your brushes.
After washing my brushes with either of these cleaners, I then attach a clothes pin to the handle of the brush and rest the clothes pin on the edge of a counter or table so that the brush is hanging with the bristles pointing toward the floor. Gravity then pulls the moisture from the brush so that it does not collect in the ferrule, which can damage a brush over time.
I hope this article has helped. Best of luck and happy painting!
Paint your Life: your Friendly Oil Paintings Reproductions Provider
Vikram kuamr asked:
Art has been part of the history of the human being, and a significant one at that. It has served as an effective outlet for a person’s emotion, whether it be of joy, angst, love, hate, and almost every feeling a human being is capable of possessing. Today and for the past thousand years, art has remained an important part of every day life. That is why, even up to this moment, great works of art from great artists of yesteryears remain invaluable possessions. Oil paintings of all sorts continue to grace homes, offices, buildings, hospitals, schools—you name a place and you will definitely find a work of art in it.
Paint Your Life understands the modern man’s need of having oil paintings around him. This is because nothing compares to the ambience a room has when it is decorated with a work of art, particularly an oil painting. With Paint Your Life, this setup is nowhere next to impossible as they bring you’re your very own oil painting reproduction at the click of your mouse right at your homes.
Depending on your preference for an artist, for a genre, or for a movement—and of course, your budget—you can now order to have your choice oil paintings reproductions delivered to your homes courtesy of Paint Your Life. Of course, those who are able to afford it, can easily go to auction houses where original pieces are being sold, but luckily for those majority of us who cannot afford that much, we have our very own oil paintings reproduction provider. There’s paint Your Life online at your service.
Paint Your Life has a very interesting and comprehensive website where you may choose the oil painting that you wish to order and delivered. Their never-ending display at their online gallery will have you feeling overwhelmed at the many choices you will be presented. But worry not as Paint Your Life has their oil paintings reproductions categorized according to artist, subject, and movement. It should make your decision making a lot more easy for you.
Paint Your Life offers affordable prices for your orders of oil paintings reproductions, of course depending on some factors such as the size of your order, the level of difficulty of the oil painting, the frame with which you’d like your order to come in, and the turnaround time that you have requested. It should not also be a problem for you if you’re not within the US as Paint Your Life likewise accepts orders and delivers them to clients located at Canada, Europe, and even Japan.
Another good thing about getting your oil paintings reproduction orders at Paint Your Life is the guarantee that you will be given. Paint Your Life ensures you full satisfaction with your every order in that aside from assuring you that your oil paintings reproduction reaches your home, they guarantee a full refund if they don’t or if they come damaged or even if you don’t like the one you initially orders. They will be happy to send a refund or another oil painting reproduction of your choice instead. All these at hand, you will surely get to your computers and log in to Paint Your Life now.
Art has been part of the history of the human being, and a significant one at that. It has served as an effective outlet for a person’s emotion, whether it be of joy, angst, love, hate, and almost every feeling a human being is capable of possessing. Today and for the past thousand years, art has remained an important part of every day life. That is why, even up to this moment, great works of art from great artists of yesteryears remain invaluable possessions. Oil paintings of all sorts continue to grace homes, offices, buildings, hospitals, schools—you name a place and you will definitely find a work of art in it.
Paint Your Life understands the modern man’s need of having oil paintings around him. This is because nothing compares to the ambience a room has when it is decorated with a work of art, particularly an oil painting. With Paint Your Life, this setup is nowhere next to impossible as they bring you’re your very own oil painting reproduction at the click of your mouse right at your homes.
Depending on your preference for an artist, for a genre, or for a movement—and of course, your budget—you can now order to have your choice oil paintings reproductions delivered to your homes courtesy of Paint Your Life. Of course, those who are able to afford it, can easily go to auction houses where original pieces are being sold, but luckily for those majority of us who cannot afford that much, we have our very own oil paintings reproduction provider. There’s paint Your Life online at your service.
Paint Your Life has a very interesting and comprehensive website where you may choose the oil painting that you wish to order and delivered. Their never-ending display at their online gallery will have you feeling overwhelmed at the many choices you will be presented. But worry not as Paint Your Life has their oil paintings reproductions categorized according to artist, subject, and movement. It should make your decision making a lot more easy for you.
Paint Your Life offers affordable prices for your orders of oil paintings reproductions, of course depending on some factors such as the size of your order, the level of difficulty of the oil painting, the frame with which you’d like your order to come in, and the turnaround time that you have requested. It should not also be a problem for you if you’re not within the US as Paint Your Life likewise accepts orders and delivers them to clients located at Canada, Europe, and even Japan.
Another good thing about getting your oil paintings reproduction orders at Paint Your Life is the guarantee that you will be given. Paint Your Life ensures you full satisfaction with your every order in that aside from assuring you that your oil paintings reproduction reaches your home, they guarantee a full refund if they don’t or if they come damaged or even if you don’t like the one you initially orders. They will be happy to send a refund or another oil painting reproduction of your choice instead. All these at hand, you will surely get to your computers and log in to Paint Your Life now.
