Tips on Oil Painting - Know Your Oil Painting Brushes

Let us begin with the description of a number of standard brush types used when painting with oils. Here they are:

* The Flat Brush - The flat brush has a flat ferrule, is square-ended, and has medium to long hairs. The ferrule of a bush is the metal sleeve used to join the bristles and handle of the brush.

The flat brush is able to carry a good load of paint and can be handled fairly easily. It can be used to produce bold sweeping strokes or when used on its edge it can also draw fine to medium thick lines.

* The Filbert Brush - The filbert brush has a thick, flat ferrule and is oval-shaped with medium to long hairs. It has long handles. It is a compromise between a flat and a round brush. With its soft rounded edges, the filbert brush is often used for blending and drawing. When used for the purpose of blending, natural hair is best because the wet hairs hold together better.

* The Bright Brush - The bright brush has a flat ferrule, short-length hairs, and is usually set in a long handle. The width and length of brush hair is about the same. The bright brush is suitable for short controlled strokes with thick or heavy color.

* The Round Brush - The round brush has a round ferrule, is round or has a pointed tip. It is used to produce fills, washes, and thick to thin lines. A pointed round is good for fine detail. A pointed round brush is with very short hair is called a detailer for obvious reasons.

Then, there are also a number of special oil brushes that are used to accomplish specific tasks. Here are some of them:

* The Fan Brush - The fan brush has a flat ferrule and has hairs spread out in a half circle. It is used for soft blending, smoothing, textures, and specials effects. For soft blending, natural hair is best while synthetic works well for textural effects.

* The One Stroke Brush - The one stroke brush has a flat ferrule, is square-ended, and has medium to long length hairs. It has a short handle and can hold large amounts of paint. It is primarily used to paint block letters in one stroke hence its name.

* The Sash Brush - The sash has long handles and tapered bristles. Bristles are stiff hairs. The sash is perfect for detailed work on large paintings and decorative painting.

* The Script and Liner Brushes - The script brush is a pointed, narrow brush with very long hair. Liner brushes have shorter hairs and are narrower. The script and liner brushed have round ferrules, short handles, and high paint carrying capacity. They are used for lettering (such as signing your paintings), outlining, highlighting, and to produce long thin strokes.

The brushes as described above are really far more than you need to start painting with oils. If you are a beginning artist it may be a good idea to try out the flats and the filberts first and only add other brushes when you master these two types.

For example, first learn how to paint with one filbert real well. See how far you can carry your paintings with just this one brush. You will be surprised, after a reasonable amount of practice, how versatile the filbert brush really is.

It is better to become an expert with one kind of brush than being half an expert with many. Of course, you will eventually find out that you cannot do everything with just one filbert. Only then should you add another type of brush to your repertoire.

We just described a number of brush types each of which has its purpose. Learn the different uses of these brushes so you know to accomplish each of the different tasks with the right kind of brush.

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