For early childhood crafts involving painting, Kaplan offers finger paints, tempera paints, watercolor paints, easels, and paint pots and brushes.
The Melissa & Doug Easel Companion Accessory Set contains everything young artists to get inspired. It includes ten jumbo rainbow chalk sticks, four 8 oz bottles of vivid poster paint, four spill-proof paint cups, four medium-sized brushes, one 18' roll of easel paper, one eraser, and one dry erase marker. Perfect for virtually any type of paint from tempera and watercolor to poster paint and acrylics the brushes are available in six Round and four Flat sizes. These Really Good School Painting Brushes are sure to give your child a great First Impression of art!
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Easy Grip Creative Design BrushesStatus: In Stock
3 years & up. Chunky easy grip brushes with 4 different design bristles. Dip, dap or slide across the paper for different creative effects.
Chubby BrushesStatus: In Stock
Great for inspiring little artists! Natural white boar bristle brushes with chubby plastic handles and a nickel-plated band. Measure 7 1/2'L x 5/8' diameter.
Creative Paint and Dough Design ToolsStatus: In Stock
3 years & up. Sensory development for little ones has never been easier and more fun. Create impressions and textures using this set of tools with paint or clay/dough. The durable tools are made from hard rubber and easily clean up with soap and water. Each of the 11 pieces creates a different impression.
Non-Spill Paint Pots & Brushes SetStatus: In Stock
Ten 3 1/2' non-spill pots have inner safety lid, brush rest, and colored caps with matching color brush handles. Cap colors include red, green, black, white, yellow, dark blue, orange, purple, brown, and light blue. Each paint cup has two lids: an inner lid with tapered hole to dip a brush and reduce spilling, and an outer, color-coded air-tight cap to keep paint fresh between art sessions. Paint not included.
Watercolor Brush SetStatus: In Stock
Great for inspiring young artists! All natural, camel hair bristle watercolor brushes with clean lacquered wooden handles and seamless ferrules. Size 9 watercolor brushes are available in sets of 18 and 36.
Fun, Floppy Foam BrushesStatus: In Stock
4 years & up. Set of 6 foam brush panels that can easily be rolled into a standard brush shape and secured with an elastic band. For different effects, the panels can be wrapped around wooden blocks, cardboard tubes, etc. They use less paint than regular brushes their size and can be washed easily and used wet. Includes 4 fun sizes.
Fabric Brushes - Set of 6Status: In Stock
3 years & up. Bring new life to art with these uniquely designed paint brushes. Six different textures create a variety of new painting effects. The fabric of the brushes differs from soft to firm to braided. Create new patterns and allow for more in-depth expression. Each brush is 6 1/2'long and has a plastic handle.
Foam Brush & Roller SetStatus: In Stock
Foam Brush & Roller Set
Floppy Brushes - Set of 12Status: In Stock
3 years & up. Make unique patterns by dipping and dabbing these soft sponge brushes in your favorite paint. Set of 12 brushes.
Floppy Brushes- Set of 6Status: In Stock
Dip, dab and create. Set of six fun foam brushes on plastic handles. Different pressure makes unique patterns. Encourages experimentation!
Preschool Brush Assortment with Rounded and Flat tipped BrushesStatus: In Stock
This 24-piece set includes 12 round tipped and 12 flat tipped brushes with seamless nickel plated ferrules, clear finished hardwood handles with natural, white hog bristles. Brushes measure from 6 to 8 inches in length.
Water Pots - Set of 6Status: In Stock
3' deep water well with built in brush holder. 4.5' wide base to prevent tipping. Set of 6 assorted colors.
Easy-Grip Brushes - Set of 6Status: In Stock
18 months & up. Each brush features a soft rubber handle with raised surface and triangular shape for easy gripping in a set of 6 assorted colors. Handle measures 4 1/2'.
Natural Wood Paint Brush HolderStatus: In Stock
19 months & up. Holds 24 brushes in an upright position in clear acrylic inside a wooden frame. 8 1/2' x 4 1/2' x 6 1/2' H.
Tabletop Paintbrush StandStatus: In Stock
A natural wooden holder with easy-clean plastic shelves that hold 30 paintbrushes. Each hole measures 3/4'. Brushes not included. Measures 8'L x 6'W x 6'H.
Paint PaletteStatus: Temporarily Out of Stock
7 inch round paint palette. 10 paint wells to hold your colors in while you paint.
30 Flat Stubby Paint BrushesStatus: Temporarily Out of Stock
30 flat 3/4' wide stubby paint brushes. Each handle measures 7 1/2' long.
Jumbo Paint Rollers and TrayStatus: Temporarily Out of Stock
3 years & up. An assortment of four rollers, each with different patterns, are great for little artists to create unique paintings. Durable foam brushes are easy to clean and have easy-to-grip handles with storage loops for hanging. Includes a tray with four wells to hold different colors of paint.
Sure-Grip Paint BrushesStatus: In Stock
12 months & up. Perfect for beginners and those with limited hand movement. Easy-grasp large wooden stub handles. Brushes have long lasting bristles and measure 5' long. Available in sets of 4 and 8.
Easy-Grip Paint BrushesStatus: In Stock
18 months & up. Bright color handles made just for little hands also match the paint cups. Short, wide handles promote dexterity and ease of control with unique bulb design. Set of 10.
Primary ArtStatus: In Stock
With this book, teachers, parents, after-school caregivers, and anyone working with children will encourage creativity, promote the process of art exploration, and appreciate the significance of the resulting art. Each art experience has three parts; it is introduced by a simple activity, progresses to a more experienced level, and finishes with a more intricate primary art experience. Paperback.184 pages.
Giant Paint Scrapers (Set of 4)Status: In Stock
Engage children's interest and imagination with innovative outdoor art tools. Swirl, stamp, scrape and twirl to create pattern, texture and marks on a grand scale with these oversized scrapers. Perfect for use with paint, water, sand, or even mud! Approximately 22' tall.
Art Lesson 6, Part 1
In this lesson, you will discover How to Choose Brushes for Oil Painting
Learn how to paint like the Old Masters!
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How to Choose Brushes for Oil Painting
“How to Choose Brushes for Oil Painting” is an important topic for a fine artist. Have you seen the huge variety of brushes they offer at art supply stores? Yes, it’s totally confusing. All the natural and synthetic brushes of different shapes, sizes, brands, and qualities – there are too many choices.
![School Paint Brushes School Paint Brushes](/uploads/1/1/7/8/117849601/361877011.jpg)
With shapes alone, at least 10 types were invented, as the typical brush shape used by the Old Masters was a Round Brush, nothing exotic. Titian, for example, is well known for his desire to be different from Michelangelo and Raphael. Reportedly he had his brushes unkempt as a broom.
Let’s look at the most popular types of brush shapes that we can choose from:
- Round Brush. There are two sizes of Round Brushes.
- Flat Brush. There are also small and bigger sizes of Flat Brushes.
- Bright Brush. There are three sizes of Bright Brushes. This brush is actually a short version of a Flat Brush.
- Angle Brush.
- Filbert Brush. This is like a flat brush, only with a rounded shape.
![Paint Paint](/uploads/1/1/7/8/117849601/528518022.jpg)
Each type of brush produces a different stroke. But let’s be honest, it is enough to have just two types of brush sizes to create impressive and diverse strokes. It is the manufacturers’ wish that we buy many kinds of brushes, that’s why they make them seem vital. Actually, Round and Flat brushes can satisfy your needs entirely. I use Flat brushes more often than Round, but it is more out of habit and I can easily do all of my artworks with nothing but Round brushes of different sizes.
Do we need all shapes? Not at all. It’s perfectly fine to have round brushes and flat brushes – they can satisfy our needs entirely.
So, what are the best materials for brushes? In the Old Masters .Academy ™ we will use both natural and synthetic types of brushes, appropriate for different purposes.
This table, that you can find in your Workbook, helps us understand what the best use is for each particular brush.
They are placed in order, from the most expensive to the least expensive.
If you have just one type of brush, let’s say only Hog brushes of different sizes, you can certainly apply them in any of the processes listed above – not only in processes that are mentioned as suitable, but also in glazing and varnishing. And if you have more appropriate type of brushes for each type of task – use them. If not, it’s ok, deal with what you have.
School Paint Brushes
Let’s look at each brush type, one by one.
Sable Brushes
Sable Brushes are expensive but worth the price. They are long lasting (if you carefully maintain them); they do their job perfectly and are just pleasant to use. These brushes hold their shape when loaded with paint, they will bend and return to their original shape, stroke after stroke. Pony and Squirrel brushes also have soft hair, but they are too soft, they do not keep their shape and are inappropriate for oil painting.
Choose Russian Sable, Kolinsky, Red Sable or Black Sable, whatever you find more appealing to you; they perform great, in similar ways.
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Sable brushes have soft, flexible hairs that are ideal for applying thin glazes.
It is possible to use Sable brushes for impasto layers as well. They work excellently in detailed passages, as they form a sharp point which helps you achieve precise strokes.
You can also use them for varnishing, however that would be an uneconomical decision – you need to have individual brushes for varnishing that are absolutely unadulterated and doesn’t contain any particles from oil paints.
Sable brushes are also perfect for painting smooth layers. I wouldn’t create sketches using scumbling and drybrush methods with such costly and delicate brushes. More rigid brushes, that we will look at a bit later, should be chosen for these purposes.
Mongoose Brushes
Mongoose Brushes are very much similar to Sable Brushes in performance, but are slightly less soft. Mongoose hair is responsive and firm, yet delicate to the touch.
Mongoose brushes are excellent in cases when Hog brushes are too rough and Sable is not stiff enough to move thicker paint over the painting surface. Mongoose is priced between Sable and Hog.
You can choose either Sable brushes or Mongoose for your painting process, or you can have both.
Hog Brushes
Hog Brushes are less expensive than Mongoose brushes and has a completely different nature. This type of brush can be used for many purposes, but with limitations. They are perfect for Sketching.
These brushes are suitable for Impasto – brush marks, in the paint, make artwork more vivid. You need to superimpose paint with the brushes carefully, otherwise it’s easy to “plow up” newly applied lower paint.
Stiff and hard Hog Brushes are especially created for such techniques as Scumbling and Drybrush. They are just irreplaceable for the task.
Bristles of the brush wear out relatively fast, especially when used vigorously, and leave small particles of bristles on the surface of the painting. That’s perfectly fine while painting, but for Varnishing it’s better to choose a safe option, like a Synthetic brush.
Bristle brushes are multi-tasking, you can even glaze with them; but test them in glazes yourself. Not everyone will be satisfied with using such a rigid brush during glazing.
When choosing a Hog Brush, be sure that the bristles have natural split-ends. If brushes are suspiciously cheap, they are usually trimmed and are usually only suitable for sketching or unimportant works.
Paint Brushes For School
This is how cheap, cropped Hog brushes look and here you see a completely different quality. When it comes to brushes with natural split-ends, they are shaped perfectly.
You can reuse old brushes by trimming them and giving them the desired shape. Such reused brushes can be used for the purpose of Scumbling. Such brushes are even better than new brushes with long bristles.
For priming with Gesso – employ broad bristle brushes, rich in hair, and make sure they are flat-shaped like those used for wall painting; the wider and thicker the brush is, the smoother the Gesso is applied and distributed over a canvas.
Synthetic Brushes
Primary School Paint Brushes
Synthetic Brushes are on the same level as Sable and Mongoose brushes when used in glazing technique. They are equally soft and flexible, however whatever one may say, synthetic is synthetic and you will sense a non-natural feeling during your work, especially if you are used to natural Sable and Mongoose brushes.
What may impress you is the price, which is tangibly lower than the price of Sable and Mongoose.
Medium sized, flat, synthetic brushes are ideal for final Varnishing – neat flexible hairs help spread the varnish evenly on the painting surface. Buy a few Synthetic Brushes, especially for Varnishing, and stick a label to make them distinct from others and keep them exclusively for Varnishing purposes. Varnishing brushes shouldn’t contain oil paint particles.
Synthetic brushes can be used as disposable brushes, for any dirty work, numerous sketches, and for covering a canvas with fast and expressive brush movements. Underpainting can be done with these brushes, the upper layers of a painting can be continued by using other brush types.
Old Masters Academy Online Course
Self-study, self-paced online video courseLifetime membership
One-time payment: $487
Correspondence Course + Online Course
Personal 1-2-1 tutoring from the Academy teachersLifetime membership
One-time payment: $997