Can Your Brush Keep Up?
When it comes to your work, how well are your brushes keeping up?
If you’re an artist like Jordan Wolfson, Ep.95, you might be asking a lof of your materials.
Wolfson asks his brushes to do a lot on both the physical level and the style level - or modes as Wolfson calls them.
Wolfson doesn’t only paint in one modality. Which means he needs a brush that can be as versatile as him. It needs to be able to render realistic form but also handle the aggressive application of paint that comes with Wolfson’s more highly abstracted pieces.
The brush that can do all of this is his Robert Simmons Signet Hog Bristle Bright. (Larger flats are called broads and he uses those too.)
He likes that he can get control with this brush if he's doing more closely observed work but it's a brush that can also handle much more robust use.
Put it to Practice:
What do you want your brush to do?
In answering this question, first you want to make sure you have the right brush for the medium you're working in.
A brush designed for oil is very different from a brush designed for watercolor.
But once you trust you're in the right medium, it's time to get clear on the role of your brush.
Do you want precision? Make sure you have a brush that helps you with precision.Smaller brushes work here but also rounds that come to a clean, sharp point.
Do you want expressive marks? Make sure your brush helps you with that (and actually keeps you from getting too tight.) That might mean you need a bigger brush that can hold more paint.
The right brush can't fix a composition that doesn't work or unharmonious color, but it does help you create a visual experience on the surface.
And which brush you choose can greatly impact that.
So as you're working, check in with your brushes. Are they helping you physically make the marks and carry the kind of energy you want? And are they able to hold up as you use them to create the kind of work you want?
If the answer is no to either of those, it might be time to find a better fit.