{"id":4452,"date":"2014-12-11T12:39:20","date_gmt":"2014-12-11T17:39:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/?p=4452"},"modified":"2015-04-13T08:20:14","modified_gmt":"2015-04-13T12:20:14","slug":"oil-brushes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/2014\/12\/oil-brushes\/","title":{"rendered":"Oil brushes"},"content":{"rendered":"

I have a lot of oil brushes, as can be seen in the accompanying photo. I have another much smaller group for watercolor. I NEVER use my watercolor brushes for oil painting. Watercolor brushes are more expensive and should, with proper care, last a long time. Some of my watercolor brushes cost nearly $100. Are the high prices worth it? Yes; a good brush is an extension of your hand.<\/p>\n

\"My<\/a>
My brushes (excepting the oldest, most gnarled ones)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I use synthetic brushes for glazing and roughing in broad, flat areas. In spite of the marketing hype, synthetic brushes remain inferior to natural brushes in all regards except durability. Synthetic brushes are nearly indestructible, and only lose their usefulness (limited as it is) when the ferrule detaches from the handle. And they’re cheap–deservedly so.<\/p>\n

Read more<\/span>Smooth Move—Smooth Painting Surfaces<\/span><\/a><\/div>

I keep a large assortment of sable brushes for detail work. Rough surfaces and thinners are murder on brushes. I buy inexpensive sables and always get several of the same size. This way, individual brushes see less work and last longer. A decent sable for oils does not leave hairs on the surface. Some brands I’ve used include Winsor Newton, Creative Mark, and Trekell among others.<\/p>\n

I bought a lot of Isabey rounds at a fire sale (yellow brushes in the back-left). They are excellent brushes but I prefer flats over rounds.<\/p>\n

Read more<\/span>Oil Paint Brand Ratings<\/span><\/a><\/div>

My workhorse brushes, the brushes I use for everything except the finest detail or glazes, are my hog bristle flats. A good hog bristle brush is magic. I use an assortment of #2’s – #5’s every day. Hog bristle brushes are reasonably priced and you can get an assortment of excellent brushes without breaking the bank. I do the same thing with the hogs that I do with the sables: get several of each size to increase their lifespan.<\/p>\n

My favorite hogs are from Winsor Newton and Trekell. Both brands are excellent and affordable. Both brands are crisp, retain their shape, and do not leave bristles on the surface. Both brands handle very well. I give a slight edge to Trekell because they seem slightly more durable.<\/p>\n

\"My<\/a>
My workhorse Trekell and Winsor Newton flats. I use an assortment of #2’s – #5’s everyday.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Read more<\/span>White Paint--in Praise of Lead<\/span><\/a><\/div>

Before I wash my brushes, I dunk them in mineral spirits (paint thinner) for a few seconds to remove excess paint. I keep a sealed jar of mineral spirits with a rag at the bottom for this purpose. I never soak or set my brushes in thinner. I wash my brushes in linseed soap every day. The oil-based soap cleans and conditions the brushes.<\/p>\n

Eventually, even with proper care, oil brushes deteriorate and lose their shape and drop bristles and become useless, although with proper care they can last years. My old brushes rarely die. I keep them around for special effects–you never know when you’ll need a twisted-up old brush.<\/p>\n

\"Old<\/a>
Old warhorses<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I have a lot of oil brushes, as can be seen in the accompanying photo. I have another much smaller group for watercolor. I NEVER use my watercolor brushes for oil painting. Watercolor brushes are more expensive and should, with proper care, last a long time. Some of my watercolor brushes cost nearly $100. Are […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":4456,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[208,24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4452","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-materials","category-shop_talk"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/brushes1.jpg?fit=600%2C526&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4516,"url":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/2015\/01\/oil-brush-reference\/","url_meta":{"origin":4452,"position":0},"title":"Oil brush reference","author":"Tom Hudson","date":"January 18, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"I wrote about oil brushes before\u00a0and it's a good topic to expand. This post is a companion to my\u00a0Oil Paint Brand reference\u00a0and, like that post, I'll update this one as I get\u00a0new material. When I started out, my sole criteria for\u00a0buying brushes was price. Like most in my\u00a0position, I told\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "materials"","block_context":{"text":"materials","link":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/category\/materials\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/brushes.jpg?fit=500%2C750&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5679,"url":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/2016\/01\/synthetic-brushes\/","url_meta":{"origin":4452,"position":1},"title":"Synthetic brushes","author":"Tom Hudson","date":"January 3, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"I\u00a0wrote about my antipathy toward synthetic brushes. This photo illustrates the\u00a0point I made in the linked post. The four synthetic brushes on the left are old and misshapen. \u00a0In my experience, synthetics quickly lose their shape and become\u00a0good for little\u00a0other\u00a0than effects or glazes. The best thing about them, by far,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "materials"","block_context":{"text":"materials","link":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/category\/materials\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/old-brushes.jpg?fit=600%2C627&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/old-brushes.jpg?fit=600%2C627&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/old-brushes.jpg?fit=600%2C627&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":8738,"url":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/2020\/03\/not-all-synthetic-brushes-are-awful\/","url_meta":{"origin":4452,"position":2},"title":"Not all synthetic brushes are awful","author":"Tom Hudson","date":"March 16, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"I heap abuse on synthetic brushes. But some synthetics are not too bad--for oils. I haven't found any synthetics that can replace sables for watercolor painting. Not even close. These synthetic rounds from Winsor and Newton are OK. Monarch brushes are made from \"synthetic mongoose fibers,\" whatever that might be.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "materials"","block_context":{"text":"materials","link":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/category\/materials\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/2020-3-16-a.jpg?fit=956%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/2020-3-16-a.jpg?fit=956%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/2020-3-16-a.jpg?fit=956%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/2020-3-16-a.jpg?fit=956%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":9442,"url":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/2021\/04\/sable-brushes\/","url_meta":{"origin":4452,"position":3},"title":"Sable brushes","author":"Tom Hudson","date":"April 24, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Sable brushes are the best. There's no debate about this. Sure, there are some use cases where the benefits of sable are irrelevant. The fine control provided by sables is lost on large-format oil paintings, for example. So on large paintings, why go to the expense? And--oh boy!--sable brushes are\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "materials"","block_context":{"text":"materials","link":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/category\/materials\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/cheap-brushes.gif?fit=800%2C496&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/cheap-brushes.gif?fit=800%2C496&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/cheap-brushes.gif?fit=800%2C496&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/cheap-brushes.gif?fit=800%2C496&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":12292,"url":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/2023\/03\/good-brush-deal\/","url_meta":{"origin":4452,"position":4},"title":"Good brush deal","author":"Tom Hudson","date":"March 21, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"I bought a brush set from Fuumuui: 8-piece kolinsky sable watercolor brushes. This is a tremendous bargain at $21.99 on Amazon. I used the brushes on one of my oil paintings and they performed passably much to my surprise. I expect they'll fall apart quickly under the abuse of oil\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "materials"","block_context":{"text":"materials","link":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/category\/materials\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/zzzzbru.jpg?fit=800%2C596&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/zzzzbru.jpg?fit=800%2C596&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/zzzzbru.jpg?fit=800%2C596&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/zzzzbru.jpg?fit=800%2C596&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4625,"url":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/2015\/01\/oil-brush-update-13015\/","url_meta":{"origin":4452,"position":5},"title":"Oil brush update 1\/30\/15","author":"Tom Hudson","date":"January 30, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"I've bought brushes marketed as 'Russian-made sables' at different times and from different vendors. The actual manufacturer is obscure. Their only identifying marking is the distinctive logo, which you can see in the accompanying photo. In addition to the logo, the brushes have long, mahogany handles. They are excellent brushes\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "materials"","block_context":{"text":"materials","link":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/category\/materials\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Russian-made, long-handle sable brush","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/sable-russia.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2Gw6F-19O","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4452","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/61"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4452"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4452\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4456"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4452"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4452"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4452"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}