Paint brushes come in many shapes and forms. Every technique and every medium requires using the appropriate type of paintbrush. There are paintbrushes made with synthetic bristles and the ones made of natural bristles. Nowadays many artists prefer using synthetic paintbrushes, some because of the price (synthetic paintbrushes are cheaper than the ones made with natural hairs) and some just don’t want to use a product of animal origin.
Both kinds of bristles work fine with me, I personally don’t mind using either. One of the most popular and most widely used for oil painting made of natural bristles are hog brushes. As the name says these brushes are made of hog bristles. Hog bristles are stiffer and stronger. They are good to use while working with oil colour which is thick in structure.
Hog brushes can also be used for painting with alkyd and acrylic colours. This kind of brushes provide a more textured look to your strokes and spreads of colour due to their stiffness and can also be used for spreading a small amount of paint out into a very thin paint film which makes them perfect for painting large areas on the painting.
if you prefer doing more detailed work or nice even spreads these are not the ones you should use, better go for sable bristle brushes which are much softer. Because of their structure and strength in bristles, they are suitable for more aggressive strokes. When buying the brushes you should always pay attention to a few details which will make your work much easier.
The quality of bristles and handle and the manner in which bristles are placed into the ferrule. You don’t want your brush bristles to lose its shape after just a few uses and also hair falling off all over your painting, not a good thing.
WInsor&Newton have a nice set of hog brushes Winton which I would definitely recommend to any artist either it is a beginner or a professional. It is a renowned company founded in eighteen hundred’s producing high-quality art materials which are used by some of the worlds finest artists.
Design
The overall design of the brush is very good. Manufacturer certainly paid attention to the details. Nice white bristles are placed into corrosion resistant ferrules. Brushes have green stained wooden handle protected by four coats of lacquer. They lay nicely in the hand and it’s very pleasant to use them.
Winton hog brushes are handmade. Made from finest durable Chinese hog bristles inserted by hand into ferrules. Bristles maintain their shape even after very heavy usage.
Brushes are very resistant and durable certainly worth every penny. It is always better to buy one quality brush then to spend money on cheaper ones that will last you shorter and give you a lot of problems while working.
Available shapes and sizes
The length and width of each brush of same shape and size may vary since fine art brushes are handmade. Brushes come in several different shapes. You can find Winton brushes fan, filbert, long flat, round and short flat bright.
The fan brush is used for blending, softening edges and creating textures. It comes in 4 different sizes in Winton collection. You can purchase it in size one, three, five and eight.
The filbert brush makes a broad mark with a soft edge. This is a flat brush with an oval tip that comes in eight sizes. Available sizes are one, two, three, four, six, eight, ten and twelve.
Winton hog brush long flat is used for glazing or covering large areas. There are eight sizes of this brush and those are one, two, three, four, six, eight, ten and twelve.
Round hog brush is used for fine details and washes. It comes in eight sizes size one, two, three, four, six, eight, ten and twelve.
The last brush in Winton set is short flat bright. This is a brush with a short flat head for creating sharp edges with control. The short flat comes in one size only size one.
Overall opinion
These are really a delight to use. You definitely can tell that bristles are of the highest quality. If treated properly after use meaning if you clean them with odourless mineral spirits or turpentine and wash with mild soap properly they can last you for many, many years to come.
The shape of the bristles always stays the same and even after many years they leave the same mark as they did the day you purchased them, allowing you to get just the effect you wanted while painting.
Never once did I have the problem with bristles falling off making a mess on my paintings. I do tend to use my brushes a bit rougher when I work, and what I have noticed with Winton hog brushes is that they can endure even my hardest brush strokes which is really a plus for them in my book. Handles are nice and fit well in hand also long for those of you that prefer to have some distance from the canvas.
Due to the stiffness of the bristles, brushes can carry a considerable amount of paint making it easy to get a more textured look on your paintings.
Price is more than acceptable considering they last so long, I mean this is the brush you buy once and it is well worth investing in the whole set. The only downside for some of you may be the fact that the bristles are of animal origin but there is always alternative for that in
Overall this is a brush which I would highly recommend to any artist. It is very important to feel relaxed and comfortable with the tools you use while painting and with quality brushes like this that is definitely what you will get.
If you have any questions regarding the subject just leave them below in the comment section and I will be more than happy to answer.
0 Comments