Hey beginners, don’t be intimidated by oil painting — especially when you have the fundamentals right here for you! Here we talk about one of the cornerstones of oil painting: brushes. What kinds there are, how to use them and how to take care of them. Jump into this overview of some of the basic know-how you’ll need, including recommended brushes for oil painting and tips for cleaning them. Enjoy! A Basic Oil Painting Brush Kit, from left to right: bright bristle, filbert bristle, small and large flat bristles, an old bright bristle cut into with scissors (for making loose ragged brushstrokes), Winsor & Newton Sceptre Gold II round, assortment of Winsor & Newton Monarch brights, flats and filberts; and a fan bristle. Article contributions from Cherie Haas
Brushes For Oil Painting
Brushes come in a variety of styles. Eventually, you’ll determine your own favorite brushes to use. Until then, you’ll probably want to experiment with a few different brush types and sizes. Here are some basic brush descriptions, though the length of the bristles often varies from brand to brand:
Round: round with a pointed tip
Flat: flat with squared ends
Bright: flat with shorter bristles than flat brushes
Filbert: flat with rounded ends
Fan: flat and shaped like a fan — You can cut some of the bristles out of your fan brush in a ragged pattern to make a very rough scraggly mark
There are hog, sable, fitch, and squirrel bristle brushes in a variety of brands, from Nos. 2 to 10, but there are also synthetics, flats, brights and filberts in several equivalent sizes that mimic the look, feel and lift of natural bristle brushes. Synthetic mongoose brushes can be sized differently from bristle brushes, with a No. 14 being about 0.5 inches (1.25 cm) wide. The Winsor & Newton Monarch Nos. 0 and 2 are good for small branches and tree limbs, as are the Nos. 0 and 2 filberts. Winsor & Newton Sceptre Gold II No. 1 rounds can be used for even tinier details and, of course, your signature!Free As a Bird (oil painting on canvas, 12×24) by Julie Gilbert Pollard.
How to Clean Oil Paint Brushes
You’ll need odorless mineral spirits (OMS), a rag and tissues or paper towels. It’s especially important to clean your brush between values, and often different colors of the same value, if you don’t want your colors to mix. If you’ve been applying a light-value color and need to add a darker value, simply wipe the brush with a tissue. However, if you want to add light value over dark, the brush needs more thorough cleaning. Wipe the brush, then wash in OMS by rubbing it over the coil in a silicoil brush cleaning tank. Wipe the OMS off the brush firmly with a tissue before picking up the light-colored paint. A rule of thumb is to change brushes when you need a different size or shape, not because your brush isn’t clean enough. Normally artists use about three or four brushes during a painting session, and many clean as they go. If you grab a different brush instead of cleaning the one in your hand, by the end of a painting session you may be too tired to clean them properly and may be tempted to leave them to be cleaned later on. Fair warning, you can ruin brushes that way. So think on cleaning as you go if you aren’t into end-of-paint-session cleanup.
11 Must Have Watercolor Supplies for Beginners by Matt Fussell Perhaps you’re an experienced watercolor artist, or maybe you’re just starting out. Either way, there are several supplies that I feel are essential. You may not use them all in every painting that you create, but if you’re looking to stock up, here’s what I suggest having in your tool box… 1. Watercolor Paints Well there’s no doubt that you’ll need watercolor paint. But what brand and what type you should use really becomes a personal choice. Let’s look at your options… First, a note on low quality brands of paint. There are plenty of low quality brands of watercolor. Watercolor can be made very cheaply and for the lower quality brands, the price reflects this. You’ll see the price that you pay reflected in the quality of your painting as well. Using low quality paints will just lead to frustration, so my suggestion is stay away from the cheaper brands. Watercolor is produced in two main forms: Tub...
How To Get the Perfect Size Painting For Your Wall CAROLINE MCDONALD 7 COMMENTS It all started with a comment a customer made on our oversized art, Storm Over the Marsh (above). The customer expressed how much she loved the print, only she wished it came in a smaller size. “That was our aha moment,” says our wall decor buyer, Karen. “We have all this great art, typically offered in a single size, and the fact is people’s homes and walls are not one size only.” Thanks to that one customer comment, we’re excited to introduce new sizes for 30 of our top-selling prints and new art. Most of the selected art is now available in three sizes — what we consider medium, large and extra large — but actual sizes vary according to the proportion of the individual piece. “Now’s the time to check back and see if an old favorite is in the size you need,” Karen urges. “We also have some fantastic new art we’re really excited about, too.” This is wonderful news,...
Art Material Glossary Facts in books, information in glossaries, the ability to use them in our heads! If you are new to the arts you may have problems to decipher certain art material terms used in the arts field. Or you wonder what brand to get. To help you along, I added this little glossary as a guideline to make it easier to find the right materials when starting to draw or paint. Save Drawing Materials GRAPHITE PENCILS There are varied types of graphite pencils. When you buy a set, make sure that you get one with a 4h and 2h otherwise buy them single. All brands are really fine. I personally use the Faber Castell graphite and Staedler pencils. Staedler is cheaper and a little lighter than the Faber Castell. Faber Castell are the only pencils with an added inner core strength so that the pencils don't break inside when they fall. SKETCHPAD The paper we draw on is of importance. In my time as commercial illustrator I tried man...
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