Brushes etc.

 

Brushes n’ Things

Brushes aren’t as important for acrylic painters as they are for oil painters and certainly not watercolor painters.  Acrylic paints are hard on brushes.  An oil painter can have a favorite brush for years if it is well taken care of.  When painting in acrylics you have to constantly wash the brush and scrub the paint out of it before it has time to dry.  Even then, a small amount will stick to the hairs and eventually the brush will lose its shape.  Good brushes don’t make much difference for acrylics like they do for oils and watercolors, so inexpensive synthetic hair brushes serve well for most purposes.  Oil paint is thicker and more dense, different brushes and brush-work will affect the look of the paint and it will hold its shape.  Acrylics are lighter so you don’t usually need a stiff bristle brush to push them around.  When the acrylic paint dries it shrinks and levels out so the textured brush-work  is mostly lost.  There are mediums that will give the paint a stiffer texture however.  If you take good care of your nylon hair acrylic brushes they will last a reasonably long time and then you simply replace them. 

I use nylon brushes for acrylics almost exclusively and especially the chisel tip variety.  With those you can paint a larger flat area, you can turn the brush on its side and paint a thinner line or you can tilt it and use the point for fine detail work.  I use natural fiber oil painting brushes for fine detail work. 

Brush Maintenance

An oil painter will often have two or more brushes going at the same time, one for each color.  With acrylics, you could never paint fast enough with one brush before the others dried out.  Acrylic painters will use one brush at a time and wash it regularly.  That’s why I love those multi-purpose chisel-tip shaped brushes; I can do most of the painting using only one brush.  When you are done using a color you must wash the brush and dry it thoroughly before you use the next one.  If you have more than one brush going, one must be left in water.  You will need some good dry rags on hand while you paint.  If the brush is in the water for more than a couple of minutes it should be scrubbed to remove the paint from it because the paint on the inside of the brush will continue to dry even in the water.   For this reason it is important to have a screen of some sort in your water container to scrub the brush on and to prevent the brush from resting on the bottom where all the pigment settles.  When you are finished painting the brushes can be rinsed in warm water then washed with a mild soap.  They can be stored lying flat or standing with bristles up. 

Painting and Palette Knives

There are two types of knives designed for painters:  one is the painting knife that comes in a variety of shapes and the other is a palette knife used for mixing paint on the palette.  The painting knives have a bent handle so that they can be held horizontally to the painting surface without you getting your fingers in the paint.   The palette knives have a straight handle.  I like to use painting knives for mixing on the palette and for painting because I like the bent handles. 

Palettes

There are a variety of materials you can use for a palette:  wood, glass, wax paper, and so on.  For acrylics, glass works well because it is easy to clean.  Just soak the dried paint in water for 15 minutes and it will peal right off.