Brushes You
REALLY Should
Know About
The next time you come into Wet Paint to replace your
worn brushes, think of it as an opportunity to try less familiar but
no less excellent brushes.
Princeton’s 6300 Series is a long handled brush
with a nylon head. Many other manufacturer’s put the same head
that is on their watercolor brushes onto a longer handle and offer it
as an acrylic brush. What distinguishes the 6300 from the glut of other
nylon brushes is that the individual strands are thicker in diameter,
thus creating a brush with the stiffness of a traditional oil painter’s
hog bristle. This enables the painter working in acrylic or water-miscible
oil paint to have a synthetic brush capable of moving and controlling
a heavy body paint.
Winsor & Newton’s Monarch Series has a small,
but loyal following at Wet Paint. The hair from the mongoose has traditionally
offered the oil painter a brush that is stiffer than sable, but softer
than hog bristle. The Monarch is actually a synthetic, which has the
look and spring of mongoose as well as its softness. But because it
is synthetic it actually retains its shape better. It is offered in
smaller sizes and is ideal where detail and control are essential.
One last brush we wish to highlight is the Series 7 Miniature,
also from Winsor & Newton. For years oil painters have adapted the
legendary Series 7 watercolor brush for fine detail
work because they couldn’t find an oil painting brush made specifically
for that purpose. The Series 7 Miniature offers the same Kolinsky sable
as the Series 7, but it is shorter in length and wider at the base.
It retains its remarkable point like the Series 7, but is capable of
moving and controlling the heavier viscosity of an oil paint. This brush
is a must for the oil painter who seeks detail in their work.
