My Favorite Paint Brushes

My oldest brush still in use since 2000 is my Loew-Cornell 1" Camel Hair Flat Wash Brush #288.  It rarely loses hairs like the new ones seem to do, but as I tell my students, "Don't try to remove them or you will most likely mess up your watercolor painting."  The hairs brush right off as soon as the paint dries, which is pretty quickly.  This is the perfect brush for background washes and under paintings, or for wetting the paper before applying paint for smooth washes.

Hake brushes similar to those pictured above are also great for wetting with water or paints.  The larger the better for large paintings.  This brand happens to come in sizes ranging from 1" to 4" and half sizes also.  They are very inexpensive! 

I prefer using a #4 script liner rather than just a liner brush because they hold more paint and the bristles are much longer than a regular liner by about 1/4". I use this brush for tall grasses, cattails, tree branches etc.

Golden Taklon Fan Brush - Size 10/0  This Fan is made with a soft synthetic taklon. Used for making grass, trees, borders, and other designs with texture. Used in all mediums. This brush's handle can be short or mini.  I prefer the regular short handles.  Mini handles don't fit in my hand as well.  (Long handle brushes are for oil painting)

Having an assortment of flat & round brushes like these is also good to have. They come in many brands. Some synthetic, some natural hair or a mixture of both.  It took me years to save up for a nice set of sable brushes and I rarely ever use them since I found my very favorite set of watercolor brushes from England pictured below:

These brushes can be ordered online at http://www.terryharrisonart.com/  and cost £79.99 for the full set of 12.  Brushes can be purchases individually too.