Paint brushes come in a variety of shapes, sizes, materials, and costs. Determining which one is right for you, and when it is the right one, depends largely on how you want to use it. The main types of brushes are china bristle, soft hair, and synthetic bristle.
La mont Sainte Victoire by Paul Cezanne
China Bristle Brushes
China bristle brushes, also called hog bristle or Chungking bristle, are made from natural pig hair. They are tough, durable brushes, able to stand up to the oil while still cleaning up nicely. They can hold a lot of paint, making them ideal for alla prima painting or impasto.
Soft Hair Brushes
Soft hair brushes are made from Kolinsky sable or ox hair, or more rarely squirrel, pony, goat, mongoose or badger. Soft hair brushes are much softer than china bristles, and a lot more expensive. It's not unheard of to pay several hundred dollars for a large sable brush. But for more delicate work, like blending and glazing, soft hair brushes are indispensable.
Synthetic Bristle Brushes
For quality and affordability, you can't go wrong with synthetic bristle brushes. Though turpentine or thinners used in oil painting can destroy some types of synthetic brushes, recent innovations in synthetic bristle technology have produced solvent resistant brushes.
Be careful, though. While affordability is a legitimate consideration when choosing your brushes, don't let it be the main one. Those brushes in the multi-packs may look just as good as the others, at a fraction of the cost, but you will end up with brushes warped and falling apart in no time.
Brush Shapes
Paint brushes come in several shapes, each designed to apply the paint in specific ways. The most useful shapes you will use in oil painting, in no particular order, are:
* Flat - Designed to spread paint quickly and evenly to an area.
* Bright - Similar to a flat brush, but with short, stiff bristles. Great for impasto work.
* Round - Long, closely arranged bristles used for drawing or detail work.
* Filbert - These almond-shaped brushes offer good coverage and the ability to perform some detail work
* Fan Brush - Used for blending broad areas and creating different textures.
* Liner Brush - Used for lettering and fine detail work.
By no means do you have to use, or even have, all of these brushes. Experiment and find the shape that works for you.
Brush Sizes
Brushes are sized by numbers based on the width of the brush at the metal sleeve, or ferrule, which holds the bristles in place. The size of your painting surface will help determine the size of the brush you use. For example, a brush that is 2 inches wide will be used on a canvas that is at least two or three feet in either direction.
However, this is just a rule of thumb. As with brush shapes, the sizes you choose will ultimately be determined by personal preference. So go get some brushes and start painting.
Choosing a painting to perfectly complement your room is one thing, but once the painting has been delivered you may be wondering what comes next!
Hanging a picture will be crucial in making sure that it has the desired effect on your chosen room.
Equipment you need to hang your painting:
Pencil, picture wire, picture hooks, nails or screws, hammer (for nails) or screw driver, spirit level, ruler, tape measure and eraser.
Check the room - where will the new painting go?
You may have already considered this before buying the painting, but sometimes we have all have spur of the moment buys and if you have bought the most amazing abstract painting without knowing where it should go then you give to give some thought. Look at the designs/furniture of the rooms in your house or office that could potentially take a painting or picture.
Observe the artwork that is hanging there already and see if there is there room for one more.
Do one or more pictures need to come down or get swapped out with the new canvas? Once you have your room and or wall, consider the placement, taking into account furnishings, the general environment and lighting - we will come onto lighting but you may need to consider buying some more lighting to go with the room.
Make sure that your wall isn't too cluttered at that the furnishings nearby go nicely with the picture. Have someone hold the canvas up against the wall so that you can stand back and make a considered judgement.
Measuring the canvas, fitting hooks and wire
The best way to fix a painting or picture to a wall is using picture wire. Picture wire comes in different gauges and the wire you choose will depend on the size and weight of painting or canvas that you want to hang.
Original paintings are on box canvases with wooden frames and weigh between 1.5kg and 3kg depending on their size.
Before fixing the wire you will need to put some screw eyes into the frame of the canvas. Using wooden frames on all our canvases and it should be easy to put the screw eyes into the frame in order for the wire to be stretched across.
You should put the screw eyes in 2/3 of the way up the painting the fix the wire between the screw eyes. Cut the wire 1 - 1 1/2 times the width of the frame and if you are concerned that the wire is too thin, use twice as much and double it up. The wire will stretch upwards when you hang the picture and so to ensure that you put the wall fittings in the right place you will need to measure the distance between the top of the wire and the top of frame.
The wall fitting
If you have a long picture you will need to consider having two wall fittings.
With a friend work out where you want your picture to go on your wall - what height and how close to furnishings and other pictures or mirrors. When you have worked out where you want your painting to go, make a light mark on the wall with a pencil. Now with the spirit level make marks on the wall so that you can make sure that the painting is straight.
When you have decided whether you need one or two wall fittings, you will need to work out the measurement between the stretched wire on the canvas and the top of the frame. Then use this measurement to mark where your wall fittings need to go making sure you take into account the length of the canvas.
When you have worked out where the fittings need to go it is worth just checking the distances again with a ruler just to double check and also check the height using a spirit level to check that the painting will be level.
Decide which wall fitting you need. The paintings are relatively light and so a nail or picture hook will be fine. For heavier paintings a screw may be a better way to go.
Finishing touch
Once the fitting is on it is time to put the picture up and admire your handiwork! Once last tip is to fix a felt or rubber pad on each corner of the painting- this will protect your wall and make sure the painting is nicely settled against the surface.
Once the canvas is up, stand back and check the height and balance. Make any adjustments you need and when you are happy, make sure you remember to rub out the pencil markings on the wall with a clean, white rubber.
