[On Painting] Question: What kind of brushes/paints/medium do you use?
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Duane
Apr 9, 2007, 9:46:43 AM4/9/07
to Keiser-on...@googlegroups.com
A couple of months ago I made a Google Group to answer questions about painting etc. I found out that moderating such a group and keeping it organized takes up a lot of time-- more time than I have. So I've decided a better way to do it is to simply take the questions I get most often via email and publish them on this blog every now and then, in between my other posts.
So here's the answer to the question above:
Brushes: I use Robert Simmons Titanium Series synthetic brushes and whatever decent hogs hair bristles are available at my local art store (Main Art.) The RS brushes are soft but stiff and they hold a point fairly well up to about size 8/10 or so. Anything larger than that and I find that they fail to handle the weight of the paint anymore and thus lose their bounce. They can also take a beating: they don't fray easily and they can take some rough cleaning when, say, trying to clean semi-dried paint from them. In terms of type, I mostly use rounds sized 4-10.
Medium: I use a 1-1-1 ratio of venetian turpentine, stand oil, turpentine. This is extremely thick and has to be used sparingly. I like it because it adds a slow, gentle tack to the paint (as opposed to the quick, agressive tack of liquin.) It slows the drying down a little bit in relation to a traditional medium, and it also works well in thin glazes. I do not recommend this for beginners because it's excessive use can make for a sticky, mess. Fringe benefit: venetian turps (a balsam) smells nice...
Paints: For the last few years I've been using Williamsburg Oil Paints, made by Carl Plansky in Brooklyn. Each tube is crammed with pigment (which can take some getting used if you've been using a more typical grade of paint) and he allows every pigment to keep it's unique character rather than making the usual homogenized, bland toothpaste-like consistency seen in many paints these days. So some colors might be a little grainy and others might be more slippery and creamy.
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Posted By Duane to On Painting at 4/09/2007 05:48:00 AM
So here's the answer to the question above:
Brushes: I use Robert Simmons Titanium Series synthetic brushes and whatever decent hogs hair bristles are available at my local art store (Main Art.) The RS brushes are soft but stiff and they hold a point fairly well up to about size 8/10 or so. Anything larger than that and I find that they fail to handle the weight of the paint anymore and thus lose their bounce. They can also take a beating: they don't fray easily and they can take some rough cleaning when, say, trying to clean semi-dried paint from them. In terms of type, I mostly use rounds sized 4-10.
Medium: I use a 1-1-1 ratio of venetian turpentine, stand oil, turpentine. This is extremely thick and has to be used sparingly. I like it because it adds a slow, gentle tack to the paint (as opposed to the quick, agressive tack of liquin.) It slows the drying down a little bit in relation to a traditional medium, and it also works well in thin glazes. I do not recommend this for beginners because it's excessive use can make for a sticky, mess. Fringe benefit: venetian turps (a balsam) smells nice...
Paints: For the last few years I've been using Williamsburg Oil Paints, made by Carl Plansky in Brooklyn. Each tube is crammed with pigment (which can take some getting used if you've been using a more typical grade of paint) and he allows every pigment to keep it's unique character rather than making the usual homogenized, bland toothpaste-like consistency seen in many paints these days. So some colors might be a little grainy and others might be more slippery and creamy.
--
Posted By Duane to On Painting at 4/09/2007 05:48:00 AM
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