Tuesday's Tips and Techniques for Watercolor Painting

A Clean Brush is a Happy Brush

Even watercolor painting brushes need a good cleaning every now and then.

I like to use The Master's Brush Cleaner and Preserver.  They're slogan is "Keeps Brushes Like New."

It's a nice mild soap for cleaning your brushes.

If you need a helpful how to or step by step, check out my old Tuesday's Tip post from 2009:

http://ritasquier.blogspot.com/2009/07/tuesdays-tips-and-techniques-for_21.htmls

Tuesday's Tips and Techniques for Watercolor Painting

Flat Brush Shapes

A flat watercolor brush isn't just for making square swashes of color. Learn to really use your brush.

• You can make the standard rectangular swash with a quick simple stroke using the wide flat part of the brush.

• You can also make a thin vertical or horizontal line with the tip of the brush and not too much pressure. Excellent for line work.

• Use the corner of the brush and vary the pressure as you swash your brush in an irregular pattern. Start with the corner of the brush and light pressure, applying more pressure and more of the bristles to the paper and then lighten up again. Good for creating leaves.

• Use the corner of the brush, by holding the brush at an angle.

• Vary the pressure as you're creating a swash to make the swash.

• With sticky paint, not so much water, spread the bristles apart, stroke the brush upward to make clumps of grass.

Tuesday's Tips & Techniques for Watercolor Painting

A Repeat Tuesday's Tip from 2009

Clean your brushes!

It's a good idea to clean your brushes ... oh at least once or twice a year. :)

Check out this old post:

http://ritasquier.blogspot.com/2009/07/tuesdays-tips-and-techniques-for_21.html

I'm on a brush roll aren't I? :)

Use them and take care of them!

Tuesday's Tips and Techniques for Watercolor Painting

The Fan Brush

Along the same lines as last week's post. The fan brush is yet another brush I purchased and rarely use. I haven't used it in years.

A fan brush is great for creating clumps of grass in one swoop.

For me, I find it easy enough to fan apart the bristles of a round brush or even a flat brush wet with sticky watercolor paints to create a similar effect, the clumps of grass blades.

Let's turn the table ...

How do you use a fan brush in watercolor painting?

Tuesday's Tips and Techniques for Watercolor Painting

The Wash Brush

My all time favorite and coveted watercolor wash brush is the Winsor & Newton Series 965 Wash Brush - 1 1/2". The bristles are a blend of natural hair and synthetic fibers. It holds a lush amount of paint and water. Perfect for creating gorgeous skies!

Glides across the watercolor paper, twisting and turning helping me to create wonderful paintings. I can and have done entire watercolors with this brush. I have three!

It's simply fantastic!

Tuesday's Tips and Techniques for Watercolor Painting

Brush Handle Repair

It is not a good idea to leave your watercolor brushes sitting in water or to seal them up after using them. Eventually, the enamel will begin to crack, chip and flake off. This does not mean it's the end of a good brush. Don't through it away, don't stuff it in a drawer never to be used again.

Simply take masking tape and wind it around the handle of the brush where the enamel has begun to chip and flake off. This will help extend the life of a brush tremendously.

When I first started taking watercolor painting classes, I did not take good care of my brushes. After class I would pack my stuff up, often times tossing my brushes into a ziplock bag. I did not seal the bag, but I left the brushes in the bag. I never left my brushes soaking in the water.

When I used the brushes at home, I would place them in a cup, bristle end up. The water would soak through the ferrel and into the handle of the brush. I believe this is what caused the tip end of the handle to crack and chip off.

After class as soon as I get home I now open up my brush holder and after using my brushes at home, I allow my brushes to air dry flat. This method has definitely extended the life of the enamel on the brushes.

And yes, the taped yellow brush does have the end tip sawed off. This helps it fit in my travel case.

Tuesday's Tips and Techniques for Watercolor Painting

Go Big, Go Bold with Bigger Brushes

Find yourself always reaching for those little brushes? Getting all caught up in the fine little details of things? Set aside your little brushes and reach for your bigger brushes. This idea alone rattles the nerves of many of my students. With watercolor painting, the fewer strokes you use to accomplish something, the fewer strokes you use to fill in an area, the fresher the end result will be.

I've done a ton of paintings on a 1/4 sheet of watercolor paper using a 1 1/2 inch wash brush, a 3/4 inch one stroke brush and a number 8 round. To paint larger areas with fewer strokes you need bigger brushes. The larger brushes hold more paint and more water for more continuous swashes of color. You can still add in small touches of color with the corner of the flat brush or the tip of the round brush.

Go big, go bold, let those big brushes do the work for you.

Tuesday's Tips and Techniques for Watercolor Painting

The Best Watercolor Brushes

Winsor Newton Series 7 Kolinsky Sable brushes are known through out the watercolor world as being the best watercolor painting brushes ever. I have to agree. I love my WN Series 7 brushes, I treasure them dearly. They can be rather pricey and are worth every penny. They hold the perfect amount of paint and water. They have just the right spring and snap.

Why do they call them Series 7? Back in 1866, Queen Victoria requested Winsor & Newton create for her the finest watercolor brushes in her favorite size, No. 7 round.

My favorite Series 7 brush is or shall I say was the No. 2 round. Sadly it has lost its spring, its snap ... it met its death mysteriously. It somehow rolled off my art table and onto the floor landing sable end straight down due to the kink when wet and attempting to swash paint across watercolor paper. I'm not sure if it was my error or the cat. Either way, it was an accidental death.

It is so important to take really good care of your brushes, especially your Series 7 brushes!

Tuesday's Tips & Techniques for Watercolor Painting

Watercolor Brushes

Sometimes choosing watercolor brushes can be a difficult task, especially when you are new or fairly new to watercolor.  I teach watercolor painting classes and I have done quite a bit of research on various brushes, I have tested a lot of brushes.  I have purchased more brushes than I care to admit.  Not only are there different brands, there are different sizes, shapes, elements, etc.  

For those who are new to painting and are looking for a decent economical choice, I would highly recommend Princeton Brush Set (shown in photo 1), made up of white taklon bristles (a synthetic).  It has brushes size 2, 8, 12 rounds and 1/2" flat, plus a 3/4" one stroke.  They are inexpensive and work very well.  A step up and my favorites for watercolor class is the Winsor Newton Septre Gold Series (shown in photo 2), which are a synthetic and sable blend.  This includes from left to right WN Series 965 1 1/2" wash brush, WN Series 680 3/4" one stroke brush (this one has synthetic bristles), WN Septre Gold 6, 10, 2, 4 round brushes, all make up a perfect set of brushes for watercolor painting.  They hold a good deal of paint and water, have great "snap".  I don't think there is a better wash brush than the WN Series 965 1 1/2" wash brush, it also has the synthetic sable blend, it is worth every penny.

My absolute all time favorite brushes that never leave my studio, for fear of loosing them are my Winsor Newton Series 7 Sable brushes (black handled brushes in photo 3).  The Winsor Newton Series 7 Sable brushes are coveted brushes by watercolor painters around the world.  They hold the most amount of water and paint and are simply delightful to paint with.  Photo 3 shows the brushes I personally use most often.  I do have another larger container that holds a lot of my other brushes, which will remain a secret for now.  

As your painting skill improves ... spoil yourself with better brushes!