CHOOSING WATERCOLOR PAINTBRUSHES
In a previous blog post and video, I talked about choosing watercolor paints for your paletter and what works for you. It's not technical. It's my quick and simple method for beginners to get started and taking action quickly.
The second video in this series is about choosing your color palette. How do you know what you're going to want to paint? I hope you will go and look at those. This topic is about paintbrushes since you can't paint without them.
Three-inch large area artist paint brush by Langnickel, and watercolor mop brush.
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Unlike in my previous videos where I went small to large, this time I'm going to go from large to small because that's how you usually paint. If you are doing a large painting and you're going to need to lay down large washes, you will want a big brush. I have a couple of examples here of large brushes, so if you're painting a full sheet of watercolor and you want to wet the whole sheet of watercolor paper so that you can get the buckling out and the shrinking and everything, then the one on the far left is a really good one. It's a three-inch, large area artist's brush. If you're painting a sky, for example, and you want to get a lot of color down and keep it wet, that's a good brush to use. Another option is a mop brush. It is made with natural hair and holds a lot of water for wetting or painting large areas. If you want to paint wet-in-wet for clouds and sky for example, you can wet your whole paper with a brush like the flat one, then go in with the color right away with your mop brush, working with two brushes at a time. |
One and a half inch HAKE Japanese watercolor paint brush.
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When you start working a little smaller or in smaller areas, this Japanese brush, left, called a hake, also holds a lot of water.
If I were using a small piece of paper and wanted to do a landscape, I might wet the entire sky, then squeeze the water from the brush and pick up some blue. This is a one and a half inch brush, and is a handy brush to have. The flat brush on the far right with the square tip gives a really nice line and fills in lots of color quickly. |
Flat, synthetic watercolor paint brushes, three-quarter inch size.
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This is a good one to use if you have straight lines and edges. If I were painting the side of a building, for example, and I wanted to have a nice straight edge, then brush is a good choice. The difference between synthetic and real hair is the synthetic has more spring to the bristles, but it holds less water.
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When working a bit smaller, such as when I'm painting flowers, I'll often use one of the two brushes on the right, depending how large I'm painting. They are both Size 12 brushes and have natural bristles.
Below you can see what kind of line this size makes. Both of these brushes hold a lot of water, so if you're working on a piece where you need to work continuously and you don't want to stop and pick up paint again, this kind of brush works really well. One has a bit shorter bristles, which gives you a little bit more control. Synthetic brushes are often a lot less expensive than natural bristle ones, so depending on your budget, if you are just starting out and want to try watercolor painting, synthetic brushes are fine. A lot of what you'll be working on is getting to know the paint, how it acts on the paper, how water reacts with it, and what kind of subjects you like to paint. This kind of flat brush (below left), as I mentioned with the others, is great if you're using it for straight lines. If I were, for example, painting shutters on a building and wanted to make sure it has sharp, square corners, I would use a brush like this. |
Size 12 natural bristle watercolor brushes.
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It doesn't hold quite as much water as does a natural bristle brush, so I have had to keep dipping my color in there to get some intensity. That's good reason to have a natural bristle brush.
Flat, synthetic watercolor paint brushes.
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Because I like to work small and I like detail, I tend to have a lot of smaller brushes. A Kolinsky Sable brush holds so much water you can do a lot of finer work and still have it give you a precise point.
I have a couple of synthetics, right, a size six and a size eight. Because they are synthetic you'll find they don't hold as much water as natural hair brushes do. However, they have tight bristles and a bounce, so they don't spread out as much as natural bristle brushes do when you press on them. |
Round, synthetic watercolor paint brushes, sizes 8 and 6.
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My favourite watercolor paint brushes, Kolinsky Sable, in Sizes 6 and 4 (two of them). They are scruffy from lots of use.
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Left, here are three of my favourites. You can probably tell because they have no tips left on them; I've worn them right off.
Right, if you're going to paint detailed work, there are lots of tiny brushes you can get, like my sable brush that has been used a lot. It holds quite a bit of water even though it's super tiny. A Size 0 paints a fine line. If you're painting stamens on a flower, for example, this kind of brush is perfect. |
An assortment of fine watercolor paint brushes from Size 0, 1, plus the two on the right are riggers, Sizes 1 and 4.
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The brushes with long, fine bristles, above far right, are called riggers, and are designed for painting long narrow lines, such as the rigging on a ship, vines, and fine sweeping lines of paint.
This is a brief overview of some different brushes, what they can do, and a look at some of the paints I use on watercolor paper. Please watch the video for more in-depth descriptions.
This is a brief overview of some different brushes, what they can do, and a look at some of the paints I use on watercolor paper. Please watch the video for more in-depth descriptions.
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