Thursday, November 22, 2018

Brush Set

Scott asks: "Could you please recommend a set of watercolor / casein brushes?"

Answer: The Richeson travel brush set is one that I use all the time. For less than $40 you get seven useful brushes in a stiff folding case with a snap closer.

The set has an assortment of short-handled flat and round synthetics which are 5.5 inches long from tip to tip. The brushes are held in with an elastic strip sewn into the black cloth case.




If you're painting in a sketchbook, you can hang the brush set from the left page, which makes them easy to reach. When the brushes wear out, you can replace them with other brushes that you can saw down to length.

3 comments:

Tom Hart said...

I've been tempted by this set for some time, but since I paint mostly in oil these days, I've held off. I work with synthetic brushes quite often in oil, and wonder why these are marketed as water media instead of all media. Do you see any reason why they wouldn't work as well as other synthetics in oil?

James Gurney said...

Tom, I use many of the same types of brushes for oil media and water media (though I try to keep the bunches of brushes separate). Most watercolor brushes will work for oil, and I use them all the time for oil. As you know, oil paint need bristle brushes, too, to move around the stiffer and stickier paint. Using a shorter handled brush is a matter of preference. To me the handle length doesn't matter very much, but it matters to some folks.

CoreFineArt said...

Hi all. Big fan of your demos, James!! I've learned more from them than most things. I wanted to add brushes to the list here. I use the Richeson ones that were mentioned and also the Gray Matters line for oil and acrylic. They have a Bristle and Synthetic line. I use the Synthetic ones because of how soft they are. You can usually find a couple of sets under $40 on Amazon. I also use the emulsion due to wanting the oil feel and workability. Plus my paint seems awfully dry. Sometimes, I like the length of the handle to be longer than the short ones. It's all preference though :) have a good Christmas all. Looking forward to more amazing videos in 2019!!