... I never understood how people say they use the same good brush for years??? I got maybe a month or two out of each one...
Apparently, I'm one of those people.
I've got a workhorse size 1 N&W brush that was included in a mandatory gouache set I had to buy back in 1996, when I went to the art academy in Antwerp, and it's still every bit as good as when I first took it out of the box! Its point has slightly curled over time, but I feel that's an advantage, as I can get into hard to reach places with this larger brush.
I don't think it's a series 7 (the writing has long since worn off the handle), but the handle is blue, and that's consistent with the series 5 I usually buy from my local art supply shop.
The W&N series 5 brushes (blue handles) have been my go to brushes for many, many years now, and they serve me very well, even though I am pretty rough on them, and do not clean them as much as I probably should. Then again; that's possibly a reason that they last as long? A typical size 0, 00 or 000 series 5 brush lasts me for about a year or two on average, with size 0000 brushes lasting maybe a year.
Come to think of it; I even have an ancient Citadel Standard Brush (burgundy handle) that was my workhorse mixing brush for at least a decade, and is still a tier 3 brush* that I won't get rid off any time soon.
In 2006, I won a painting contest at a tournament I was attending, and the main price was a then coveted (but woefully overpriced) limited edition Citadel Brush Set, in a nice wooden box, a boltershell casing water pot, a small bar of brush soap, etc. It held a full set of W&N series 7 brushes (with a brown handle), and for a long time I held off actually using them because I was afraid I'd ruin them.
But I have been using them for years now, and they're also still excellent tier 1 brushes.
It may be that I am simply not prolific enough a painter to wear out my brushes; most years I'd be happy to finish 100 miniatures. But like I said; I can be pretty rough on my brushes; I have a tendency to let the paint run all the way up to the ferrule, I incidentally use tier 1's to drybrush or stipple when I'm in the zone, and I clean them only when it's absolutely necessary.
Over my 30 years of painting though, I've maybe had a handful of brushes splitting or fraying on me. In fact, I have a large collection of tier 3's, from which I pass a few off to my little girl every now and then, for her painting (it's in her hands that they actually die
). It's been rare in all those years for me to actually have to throw out a brush (mostly 0000 ones that have lost too many of their hairs; they seem to be the only ones that regularly do), and I buy maybe a couple each year (even when I don't need them; they may simply be retail therapy, as I've never actually found myself lacking a brush for a certain job).
I'm really interested where this difference in experience comes from though.
- Are my standards lower than those of other painters? (probably; I once saw a female professional painter tell that she discards W&N series 7 brushes after one or two miniatures, because she wants consistency in her brushes?)
- Am I actually really, really pampering my brushes compared to others? (I can't imagine, because of the previously listed reasons)
- Was it just the luck of the draw perhaps? (can't rule that out)
- Don't I paint enough volume maybe? (this may certainly be a factor. So I'd better get painting...)
*
I tend to rank my brushes into tiers; 1 is the good stuff, 2 are usually ex-1 brushes that have seen better days and 3 are either cheap Action-grade brushes or not-quite-trashed-enough-to-fully-discard ex-2 brushes. I use tier 2 for basecoating and terrain washes etc, tier 1 for the actual detailed miniature painting and tier 3 are drybrush, glue and other destructive materials applicators. Hey; it works for me 
25 May 2014, 10:43:50 AM
