Keep Those Brushes

For me it is important to keep the application of paint varied and interesting.  So far, I have never thrown out a brush.  Pack rat you say.  Maybe.  My original drawing brush is a #1 bright hogs bristle.  It looks like a stump.  But, it makes an interesting mark and the other end of the brush scrapes very well.  My primary paint application is done with hogs bristle flats from #4 to #16.  Second is perhaps a palette knife that I scrape with and make other interesting shapes and blobs, including sharp edges.  Then there are the filberts, the eggberts (bristle) and a few mongoose brushes that are very interesting as the hair breaks or falls out.

Almost New and Not Much Left

These are mongoose brushes.  The newer one is a larger size than the worn one once was.  The bristles on these are very soft.  They can be used for a number of things such as precision drawing.  The worn one though is very valuable.  When it gets to this stage it needs maintenance if it is to be useful for any period of time.  The glue down in the ferrule is the weakness of these brushes.  So, top it up when the bristles get sparse.

Cabinet Makers Glue

This stuff works well and resists the solvents and paint compounds.  Then this little hair brush becomes a tool of torture that has endless uses.

Tortured Little Hair Brush

Here the brush was shoved bristles first into a pile of loosely mixed paint.  The hairs splay and hold a huge gob of paint.  Great application effects!  Ya, ya, you are not supposed to treat brushes this way.  Means to an end.  I also use my thumb, the other end of a brush, dry brush, medium filled brush.......  Its called "painting".

Detail from "Honfleur Sailer"

If you look at this small element you will see transparent, translucent, and opaque passages, passages done dry brush, bits done with the little tortured hair brush and the palette knife.  Even a thumb print or two.