Watercolor Instruction

What Type of Brush Is Best for Watercolor Painting?

The right Watercolor Brushes are extremely important

As with any craft or art form, the tools are particularly important. Cheap brushes usually prove a waste of money, so when you need a brush, save up until you can buy the very best. Excellent brushes will prove to be a wise investment. You won’t need many, and, given reasonable care, they will last a long time.

Hint: It never hurts to visit your local art dealer. You know the saying, “Birds of a feather…”? Well you will find some very informed folks at the local art store. Artists who are trying to make a living financially will opt to work at an art store because they are surrounded by their craft and people of like interests. They love to talk about their work, and they will give you some very valuable insight about your purchases. They art clerks can compare for you the different types of brushes they have in stock.

Kolinski Sable Watercolor Brushes

Of the several types commonly offered, artists differ as to preference. As you will see shortly, choice will vary with type of watercolor painting you are doing.

As mentioned, watercolor brushes differ in quality. There are natural hair brushes, the best being from a small animal know as a sable. Other natural fiber brushes come from the likes of mink, ox, squirrel, and goat. Synthetic fibers are another option that is generally less expensive than natural hair brushes.

Sable Brushes – Brushes of red sable are popular for many kinds of work. Of these, the round, sharply pointed ones (such as the picture) may perhaps be the most useful. Some painters use nothing else but the Red Sables. A good sable brush of the round type should, by the way, be uniformly round, and should keep a sharp point at all times. Unlike the cheaper animal hair brushes, which may be flabby and fail to hold a point well, the red sable brush should be springy and resilient. Sable brushes come in many sizes; manufacturers may vary in their methods of designating such sizes, but there is usually a number to indicate size. The watercolor artist needs at least three: small, medium and large. As a safe rule, he will always use the largest brush possible for a particular piece of watercolor work.

Hint: Kolinsky Sable is considered the best of the best.

Excepting for fine detail, the small brushes require the watercolor painter to dip the brush far too often and are likely to lead the artist to use perfectionist techniques, which are not normally the preferred method for painting with watercolors. For all-around work, a fairly large brush is good. For quick, bold sketching, and for laying big washes (as on skies or backgrounds), a huge brush is extremely useful, but costs so much in sable that one often feels forced to substitute something less expensive, such as camel’s hair or squirrel’s hair, or even a synthetic composition.

There are special needs where flat, square-pointed sable brushes are even better than the round-pointed type. They are great time savers, for instance, when it comes to the representation of buildings or similar subject matter where squarish forms predominate. A single stroke can represent a window shutter, the side of a chimney, or even a large roof area. Three or four of these are, therefore, well worth having; they could vary from 1/8″ to 3/4″ in width.

Bristle Brushes have some specialty uses in Watercolor Painting

Bristle Brushes – For certain techniques, and particularly for scrubbing out highlights or correcting faulty watercolor applications, bristle brushes can be used. These are more commonly used in oil painting, and they are much stiffer than sable brushes but otherwise look quite similar in form. They are perfect for correcting some mistakes. The flat ones have been generally preferred, though everything depends on the end use.

Oval Wash Brush

Oval Wash brushes are another specialty brush. They are great for putting down large areas of wet watercolor paint. The good ones are generally made from squirrel’s hair and are somewhat softer than sable. They are also less expensive, but a good oval wash brush may still be costly.

Care of Brushes – As already mentioned, good brushes will give many years of service but only if they receive proper care. Rinse them frequently as you use them. For maximum service, wash them thoroughly with mild soap and warm water when you put them away. Shake each one out don’t squeeze it. This way it will retain a natural form. Don’t let brushes stand on their hairs for long, and don’t allow them to dry in cramped or unnatural positions. Don’t try to soften hardened watercolor paint on your palette or color box by scrubbing it vigorously with your best brush.

Watercolor Tip – moths are much too fond of expensive sable brushes!

If you are looking for a fantastic place to purchase your watercolor brushes, try Blick Art. Right now they have a special deal: FREE SHIPPING on orders totaling $200 or more

Here are two places you may want to look for more detailed information about watercolor brushes: WatercolorPainting.com- watercolor brushes and How to Draw and Paint – Watercolor Brush Guide