Experienced painters will have several brush styles and sizes to choose from throughout their work on a painting. Depending on the medium and surface, different brushes work better than others. The types of hair or fibers that make up the tip of the brush are very important in the ease of painting and the price of the brush. In general you can choose natural hair, bristle, synthetic fibers, or blends of synthetic fibers with natural fibers.
Quality of natural hair brushes are determined by the shape of each individual hair, as in how much of a point does it come to and how tapered the point is. It is also important how tightly the hairs stick together when wet. Spring and strength of the hair determine durability. Natural fibers hold water in the structure of the fiber and release liquids in a more controlled manner than synthetic fibers.
Red Sable brushes are said to be the best quality and are the standard that all brushes are held to. Red Sable brushes come from any red colored weasel, the males produce longer hairs than the female, and each hair comes to fine point. The collection of hairs will hold tightly together when wet, making them excellent for applying media like watercolor and thinned oil and acrylic paints to smooth surfaces like paper or ceramics in even strokes. Other animal hairs like fitch, mongoose, and badgers are used to make brushes of comparable quality at a lesser price. Sabeline brushes use ox hair that has been bleached and dyed to look like red sable.
Camel hair brushes are not made from camel hair, but and number of animals including pony, squirrel, goat, or ox. These brushes are of a lower quality than sable and are good for lettering or mop brushes to blend oil paints. School-grade brushes are often made from pony hairs taken from the mane because the long hairs can produce several brushes. Cutting the hairs removes the natural tip of the hair. “Camel hair” can be blended with synthetic fibers to increase absorbency and performance without a great increase in price.
Bristle brushes come from the stiff hairs of pigs, boars, or hogs. The stiffness is ideal for applying thick media like oil and acrylic paints to slightly textured surfaces like canvas. The natural tips are “flagged” or split acting as little brushes. If the ends are blunt, that indicates the hairs have been cut and it is not a quality brush. A quality bristle brush will also have an interlocked construction, meaning the natural curve of the hairs all point to the center of the brush, leading to superior shape retention.
To determine paper weight, manufacturers either weigh one ream, 500 sheets, of paper or one sheet of paper.
Weights may be expressed in grams per square meter, gsm, or pounds per ream, lb. Thicker paper weighs more, so when looking for a thick paper for watercolor or other art project choose one with a higher weight.
There are a few different sorts of projects where paper weight will be important. If you are creating a book, the cover needs to be thick enough that it is as durable as you need. The inner pages, if they are just text need to be just heavy enough that the ink won’t soak through when printed on both sides. Anytime the paper will be saturated, it should be of appropriate weight. Paper construction projects need to be mindful of weight in regards to durability and type of fastener (i.e. glue) to be used. Origami or other folding projects will generally want thin paper. When making cards or envelops, too heavy of paper will cause strange, lumpy folds so test out a few weights before you purchase in bulk.
If you are indeed planning on painting your paper, it may first need to be stretched to prevent buckling. When paper absorbs water, it may dry in a way that you do not desire. If you want your paper to dry flat and smooth and it is less than 356 gsm or 260 lb, it may need to be stretched. You can experiment with a small bit of paper by painting it as you normally would and see how it dries. If it buckles, you should stretch it. Stretching paper is not terribly difficult, but it is tricky. Basically you soak the whole sheet of paper, smooth it against a flat board, use gummed tape to fasten the edges to the board, and allow the paper to dry evenly. The next time the paper is wet, it will not buckle or warp. The advantage of user paper over 356 gsm or 260 lb is that you never have to stretch it, it can withstand several applications of paint and glaze, and it will be more durable.
Think of your paintbrush as a tool. You need the right tool to get the job done. You wouldn’t use a rake to dig a hole in the garden, so take the time to start with the right paintbrush. The end effect of the painting will be better when you know which brush to use when.
Brushes serve the purpose of applying a medium to a surface.
- The first aspect of brush selection takes into account the viscosity, composition, and cleaning solvent required. Some brushes are prone to damage with certain solvents, so it is important to understand the chemistry of the materials you are using.
- Next, you will choose a brush based on the texture of the surface to be painted.
- Finally, you ideal brush will depend on the desired outcome of your painting. Painting a realistic scene or mural on a highly textured wall will require very different tools than a detailed painting on a smooth surface.
One of the most important aspects of your brush is the type of hair. You can choose from natural soft animal hair, bristle, or synthetic fibers.
Synthetic fibers are generally less expensive and less prone to damage and breakage than natural fibers. However, the non-porous quality of the fibers that make synthetic brushes easy to clean, may affect how well the medium flows from the brush to the surface. Synthetic blend brushes combine the durability of a synthetic brush with the ease of use of a natural brush.
The shape and length of the brush is very important in the desired outcome, and your frustration getting there. If you want nice long strokes on a canvas, you will need a relatively thin medium and long, tapered brush. For blending or adding shadows you may want a flat brush with paint only applied to one corner. For a highly textured end piece, you will need a thicker medium applied with shorter brushes, maybe even a knife.
If you are new to painting, you should feel free to experiment. Buy a few different brushes with a similar shape and different fibers. Apply your medium with the same technique with the different brushes and notice how each feels. Thin out the medium and try it again. Try a few techniques and styles and you will find what works best for you. Remember that in art, everyone is different. Several people could get a similar end result with totally different styles, techniques, tools, and media. Painting is a personal feeling, so use what feels best and works for you.
New York City wins again, being chosen as the home city of a new Hauser and Wirth contemporary art gallery. Hauser and Wirth already has prestigious showrooms in both London and Zurich, and their newest addition will be located on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. Slated to open in September, it is sure to draw a crowd from among the modern art purveyors of the Big Apple.
Hauser and Wirth displays the works of over thirty emerging contemporary artists, including the famed Louise Bourgois, who currently resides in New York City. Ms. Bourgois has pieces on display in numerous museums around the world, so her involvement in the new Hauser and Wirth gallery opening can only be seen as a boost to the publicity of the event. Surely her name and reputation alone can be expected to draw art followers. Added to the plethora of other artists showcased in the gallery, the opening in September should be a truly gala event.
One has to wonder what other local New York galleries are planning in relation to this new opening. Competition exists even among the elite in the art world, so it will be interesting to see the effect of this new gallery opening on the existing galleries in the area. If you are in or near the Big Apple, it will be an event worth attending!
Children are natural artists in a way, usually diving right into the finger paints and chalk with abandon, unafraid of what anyone will say about their finished masterpiece. They are future Picassos. They draw without fear, paint everything in sight, and believe that their painting deserves to hang in the front entry of the home forever because it’s the most beautiful thing ever created. In a way, every child is right!
Art reflects culture, and culture influences children’s views of the world around them. If children live with beauty and stimulating images around them, they will learn to be perceptive to beauty in their world. If they are taught to express themselves through art, allowing their thoughts and emotions to be conveyed outwardly through paint, clay, pencils, or other media, they will learn to allow their emotions to flow outward in a healthy manner that benefits their surrounding family and culture. Certainly there is much to be gained by exposing children to art in its many forms and encouraging them to explore their own involvement in different venues.
There is a caution, however. Children can easily be overwhelmed by too many choices, too much material, and too wide a circle of opportunity. Their minds perceive a slightly smaller circle than an adult’s mind, and their exposure should be geared to feed their curiosity, not bombard them with more than they can take in at once. Every great adult artist was once a curious child. That’s a good point to remember.
Art employs many different canvases. Some artists use music, others write poetry, still others use paint on a variety of media to convey their image or story. Still others use the human body as their backdrop and draw their pictures with a needle and ink. Yes, these are tattoo artists, and their work is becoming more prevalent. Many artists employ the basic stock images many people associate with tattoos that have been around since Grandpa got a heart tattooed on his bicep when he was in the armed forces. But tattoo artistry has taken on a new dimension in recent years.
One trend is that of tattooing a photograph of a person. Even women sport tattoos of their children or loved ones across a shoulder blade or lower back, and the skill required to render such a portrait with accuracy is impressive. Just as not everyone can sketch a portrait on paper with a pencil, it is definitely an acquired skill to draw a face with ink in a tattoo gun. A tattoo artist may spend days practicing on paper before placing the final artwork on a client’s skin, where using an eraser for a mistake is simply not an option.
Whether one considers a tattoo a piece of art might depend upon whether one has a tattoo of their own. Most tattoo wearers do consider them to be art that reflects something about themselves and their personality…which is what most forms of art do in one way or another.
Native American art portrays life from the perspective of the artist. In particular, Native American art embodies both the joy and the pain experienced by a people group as a whole. From the days of freedom when their lives were governed by seasons, weather, and the passing of time, to the days of repression when their lands were encroached upon, their game slaughtered, and their freedoms taken away come the images, poetry, songs, and drama that defines Native American art today.
There is beauty in sadness, however painful it may be. There is also joy in loss, though the loss may be irreconcilable. Peace comes through arriving at the top of a mountain that it took a lifetime to climb, and appreciation of the experiences of others leads to a recognition of the artful beauty they possess. Native American art in particular purposely seeks out those moments of joy/pain, peace/war, and love/hate that fill ordinary life, and expounds on those moments. Native history is full of such experiences, both individually as well as collectively, and because of that history there will never be a lack of material from which to draw.
Of course, history continues into the future so an exciting element of Native art will be to watch it continue to evolve. Native Americans have a rich past and a developing future which holds an ever-growing canvas upon which to paint. How that looks remains to be seen, but it will undoubtedly be a thing of beautiful insight.
The answer to the question, “What makes something art?” can be as varied as the people who would ask it. To some, nothing can be considered art unless it is esthetically pleasing, such as a painting of a vase of flower one might hang in a dining room. To someone else, a piece must convey some meaning or insight in order to bear the title “art“. But what about photos of the Holocaust? Deep meaning is definitely conveyed, but esthetically there is no attraction. Or consider a drawing of a bumblebee on a rose: beauty is evident, but what is the deep meaning there? Yet, to still another person anything at all could be considered art if it was created for the purpose of bringing enjoyment to the person or people who experience it.
Past generations employed greater standards of propriety in many ways than our modern American culture dictates. Art was expected to convey not only beauty and meaning, but also nobility, respectfulness, and often an air of something to be achieved. Peaceful contemplation was a frequent theme in portraits, and rolling landscapes filled quiet halls with calming images. Today, artists embrace life’s realities with perhaps more artistic license, bringing a grit and sometimes an unsettling nature to their pieces. These may not always please every art show attendee, but they are truly art, nonetheless.
Art is a creative reflection of life, simply stated, and thus its definition is ambiguous. Perhaps it should remain that way.
Modern art has always had a reputation for being unusual. Really, almost anything can be considered “modern art” if one applies that title to it. Piles of tin cans, twisted metal, even used paper towels have at one point or another all been coined “modern art” and garnered odd sideways glances if not true admiration from gallery visitors. But these days there are even more sources from which modern artists can extract their next gallery display. Consider the post-it note! Or left-behind bullet casings!
Why are certain items considered even remotely artistic or appealing to the eye? Perhaps because they reflect the experience of people in our current culture. Previous generations created art from the scenery around them, from industries growing up in their cities, and from the people around them. Today’s artists do the same thing by employing objects, experiences, and current events in their work. Bullet casings might not seem very artistic to a well-to-do Seattle businessman, but to a young man raised in a New York City ghetto where crime is rampant, bullet casings speak volumes about daily reality. There is beauty in reality, even when it is frightening.
Post-it notes? Well, it’s hard to see any deep meaning in those compared to bullet casings. Though, maybe the single mother of three children struggling to support her family with a boring office clerk job after her husband was gunned down in a grocery store robbery might see something meaningful even in post-it notes.
Hence, art is born.
Ordinarily, painting or drawing on walls, buildings, sidewalks, cars, trees, street signs, or just about anything else that isn’t a canvas or obvious art project would be considered inappropriate. Children are taught from the time they are young that they should color in their coloring books, draw on their paper, and paint on a canvas. But what about when an artist uses a larger “canvas” such as public property that doesn’t belong to them? Obviously scrawled obscenities or gang insignia would be recognized as inappropriate, but what about when the finished drawing is actually esthetically pleasing?
The truth is, there are thousands of exquisitely done pieces of art on building walls, buses, sidewalks, and trash dumpsters in cities all over America. But the artists will never be paid or even positively recognized for their creativity, in fact, if recognized at all they will likely go to jail. Graffiti is graffiti, whether it is an amateur rendition of stick figures playing baseball or a Van Gogh quality still-life painting…it doesn’t belong on property that does not belong to the artist.
Unfortunately, the question of “art or graffiti” becomes difficult to answer when one allows the quality of the piece to be considered. People are permitted to decorate their own property with art all they want, but not someone else’s, and certainly not property that is considered public domain. “Art or graffiti” is not a question answered by “quality” but by “ownership”. If it’s not yours, don’t decorate it.