Brush

“ Dogs leaping and jumping, dogs running—the jog-trot of the terrier, and the easy gallop of the deerhound—here are interesting subjects for your pencil and brush. We might take up a brush fairly full of paint and sketch a little fresco of dogs in action. I say advisedly 'brush.' We can't stipple with a full brush. We must make up our minds, and draw, without hesitation, the thin or plump body, the long or thick legs, the short or pointed nose, the flowing or stunted tail. The fresco may not be very true to Nature but it will certainly teach us a good deal. ”

“ Pick out a brush that has a good even edge. A “ragged” brush is useless for heavy strokes. And when you find a brush that will work well, leaving the perpendicular and ends of the vertical lines even and neat, KEEP SUCH A BRUSH FOR THIS STYLE LETTERING, and use it for nothing else. In contrast to the “Egyptian”—a brush for the Roman alphabets must be pliable and of a “texture” to permit of light and heavy lines being made alternately.
In forming the “Egyptian” the brush must hold its “chisel” edge, and keep an even stroke; therefore the necessity of using the right brush. ”

“ If you accustom yourself to the use of the brush you will soon find it an adaptable tool.
The artist holds the brush in the same way as he holds the pen or the pencil, and he shifts the position according to the demands of the subject. ”

“ Vehicle of the subtle sentiment to be expressed in form, the brush must be so fashioned as to receive and transmit the vibrations of the artist's inner self. Much care, much thought and skill have been expended in the manufacture of the brush. ”

“ The happy laughter of the baby as he sees his flower or leaf appear will not soon be forgotten by those who have put this magic wand into tiny hands. And the interest derived from brush drawing does not pass away. ”

“ There is nothing which comes nearer to yourself than the brush which carries out your idea in paint. You should be always on the lookout for a good brush; and whenever you run across one, buy it, no matter how many you have already. Don't look twice at a bad brush, and don't begrudge an extra ten cents in the buying of a good one. ”

“ It will perhaps be as well to illustrate a few of the different brush strokes, and say something about the different qualities of each. These are only given as typical examples of the innumerable ways a brush may be used as an aid to very elementary students; every artist will, of course, develop ways of his own. ”

“ BRUSH, a domestic implement, consisting generally of a collection of hairs or bristles, fastened in a frame of wood, bone, or ivory; with, or without a handle; and used for various purposes. This simple manufacture is capable of great improvement; as we seldom meet with brushes, the hair of which is so firmly cemented, or otherwise secured in the frame, as to ensure their constant use, until the hair itself is worn out by mechanical friction. ”

“ It must be laid on very evenly, very rapidly, and after once being painted in and yet moist, a full brush must immediately be used, to let an additional quantity freely and fully drop in; when dry, it will be perfectly even and equally dispersed. ”

“ BUYING AND SELECTING BRUSHES—CARE OF THEM—SOFTENING HARD BRUSHES—BRUSH KEEPERS—PRESERVING LIQUIDS—BRUSHES USED IN VEHICLE PAINTING, ETC. One conspicuously famous brush maker has declared the art of brush making to be "an art preservative." ”

“ Painted with a bristle brush, a camel’s-hair brush, a sponge, a rag or your thumb, as the case may require; painted on glass and then printed on paper, with a clothes-wringer for a printing-press; can anything be more enchantingly unconventional? Yet the finished monotypes are truly artistic and beautiful. If you can paint at all, be it ever so little, you can make some kind of a monotype, and you will always have the feeling that you can do better next time. ”

“ After thinning to the desired consistency, a good brush is the next requisite for applying the color. Do not use stubby brushes, as in so doing you lose more time than you gain by making them last longer. ”

“ Take a brush full of it, and strike it on the paper in any irregular shape; as the brush gets dry sweep the surface of the paper with it as if you were dusting the paper very lightly; every such sweep of the brush will leave a number of more or less minute interstices in the colour. The lighter and faster every dash the better. ”

“ It is always a delight for us to see a beautiful bit of color. In studying the sketch, you can see how freely and simply the brush has done its work, showing the fresh, clear color of the bowl, the darker value of the inner lining, and the gray-violet shadow cast upon the table. ”

“ The first-class brush is distinctively the brush that shows good quality—uniform quality—from center to outside. Other things being equal, the brush that is made up uniformly as to its bristle equipment will develop a good point, and all carriage painters are alive to the importance of this virtue in both paint and varnish brushes. ”

“ Being of an artistic temperament she delighted in the scenery and colouring, finding endless opportunities to practise her art—plenty of work for her brush. Yet at times the colouring is so superb it defies all efforts of speech or brush. ”

“ The brush may still deal freely with any subject, however revolting or indelicate. It makes a body ooze sarcasm at every pore, to go about Rome and Florence and see what this last generation has been doing with the statues. ”

“ A trailing spray of blackberry is a charming subject for brush and pencil alike. Sketch the direction of the spray, then the mass of each spray, then the direction of each leaf in the spray.
When the sun is high in the heavens and the colours are faint and sickly, use your pencil instead of a brush.
A bit of a fence overhanging a piece of rock or sandstone, or a fence topping a grassy bank, or a stile dividing two fields, are equally interesting subjects for a sketch. ”

“ Anyone can wash a brush clean; any one can keep the colour on his palette neat; can grind it all up each time it is used; can cover it over with a basin or saucer when his work is over; and yet these things are often neglected, though so easy to do. The painter will neglect to wash out his brush; and it will be clogged with pigment and gum, get dry, and stick to the palette, and the points of the hair will tear and break when it is removed again by the same careless hand that left it there. ”

“ The attention now being given in primary schools to brush-work, if wisely directed in its effects, by giving facility to young hands in the use of the brush, with its power of expressing form by direct strokes, ought to be an excellent aid and preparation for such an after training in practical painting and decorating as is here suggested. ”

“ Are we not young? Are we not fresh and blooming? Wait, a bit. The artist takes a mean little brush and draws three fine lines, diverging outwards from the eye over the temple. Five years.—The artist draws one tolerably distinct and two faint lines, perpendicularly between the eyebrows. ”

“ BRUSHING AND IRONING It is impossible to overestimate the value of continual and regular brushing. With one of the finest quality cloths, unless the climate be damp, once or twice a week at the outside will be enough for the iron, if the brush is used as it should be. At the conclusion of play the brush should always be used freely and at once, so that all the chalk marks may be removed before they are rubbed through the cloth. Remember always to use the brush with the nap—that is, from the bottom towards the top of the table. ”

“ The fan brush, such as here illustrated, is a useful brush, not to paint with, but to flick or drag across an outline or other part of a painting when it is getting too hard and liney. You may not want it once a month, but it is very useful when you do want it. ”

“ The best bristles come from the wild hog of Russia and Poland. The whitest and finest are used for paint, tooth, hat, hair, and clothes brushes. Some brushes are made with one tuft only, like the paint brush, others with many. ”

“ It seems to me that will give you a knowledge of detail which will help you wonderfully in your ‘technique’ when you come to put your brush to canvas. So with the cloud and sky tints; they are never-ending in variety. ”

“ Useful and extensive as is its use, the broom does not compare in variety and wide application to the brush. The human body, cloth, leather, metals, wood and grains, everything that needs rubbing, cleaning, painting and polishing, meets the acquaintance of the brush. Nearly a hundred species of brushes might be enumerated, each having an especial construction for a particular use. ”

“ Should paint, varnish, leather-bound whitewash or wall brush be found that has become loose from shrinkage, take a tablespoonful or so of water, open the brush and pour the water into the center. This will swell the parts and make the brush as firm as when first made.
New brushes when first put in work are apt to shed any loose bristles that have not been fastened when made, and while such loose bristles are always cleaned out before the goods are put up for market, not all such loose bristles or hair can be cleaned out, and such are sure to come loose when the brush is first used. ”

“ A brush that gouges and does a chisel’s work is a poor brush, no matter what quality the fiber or brush mark. The brush you buy for your wall or your hardwood floor must not scratch, and must have nothing in its construction that can scratch. Likewise, the brush you buy for your toilet bowl must not scratch or wear the enamel and the bristles must be bristles, for if of fiber you will have your brush acting like a blotter. Your brush must clean and brush, it must not become a bacteria nestling haven. ”

“ After all the brush has been burnt, they make small brooms of brush with which the place is swept clean. Then a number of men procure sticks with curved roots or having curves that can serve as handles. ”

“ For instance, if we are applying a broad wash of colour we should hold the brush with freedom, and fairly high on the shaft. One with a fair point, full and firm, will be necessary for drawing, A long hairy point will give a feeble line, and one too short and blunt no line at all.
A brush that is at its thickest the size of an ordinary lead pencil is a useful tool. A very small brush will prove inefficient, for in drawing with a brush a fairly bold drawing is aimed at. ”

“ A is a regular wire-bound bristle brush which can be had at a paint or hardware store in several sizes; B is known as a “sash tool”; C is a flat floor or varnish brush; D is a sizing, kalsomine, or whitewash brush; and at E a round-liner or stipple brush and a flat tool are shown. For light work the tin-ferruled, cedar-handle flat bristle brush can be had in sizes ranging from one to six inches in width.
Fig. 1. Fig. 2.
There is nothing that freshens up a room so much as repainted wood-work, newly papered or tinted walls, and kalsomined ceilings ”

“ A fourth process is rubbing the color into the grain of the paper. A fifth—a supplementary one—is scratching out. Last is the ignominy of the stipple—the wetting of the brush in the mouth, a technic entirely dependent upon the quantity of saliva the student can spare for his work. Almost every early wash water-color in existence can be classified according to the employment in its making of some or all of these means. ”

“ The crossing of the brush work in every direction, giving a look of atmosphere, is naturally often used in painting backgrounds and also such things as the plane surfaces of sky and mist, &c.
It is often inconvenient to paint across the form when softness is wanted. It is only possible to have one colour in your brush sweep, and the colour changes across, much more than down the form as a rule. For the shadows, half tones and lights, besides varying in tone, vary also in colour ”

“ As from time to time I received the reports of the Bible-distributor, and learned of the amount sold, and of the large number of families destitute who gladly received as a gift this inestimable treasure, I felt that in all my toils and personal privations in thus exploring the Brush, I had not labored in vain nor spent my strength for naught. In the great day, when all the good results of these labors shall be revealed, I know that there will be no cause for regret, but much for joy. ”

“ Every time you paint you look over your brushes and pick out those which look friendly to what you are going to do. You want all sorts of brushes. You can't paint all sorts of pictures with the same kind of brush. Your brush represents your hand. You must give every kind of touch with it. You want to change sometimes, and you want a clean brush from time to time. You don't want to feel that you are limited ”

“ For laying fine color no better brush can be had than the camel's-hair brush, called by some mottlers, by others blenders, and again by others spalters, each term, however, is foreign to the American painter, and the camel's-hair brush is by far the most appropriate, and most commonly used. ”

“ Choose a brush of medium stiffness, with bristles long and close together, and nowhere will it pay better, “in the long run,” to give a good price for a good article than in a woman’s hairbrush which she proposes to use as described above. ”

“ The painter needs a set of at least three brushes, 1 in., 1 1/2 in., and 2 1/2 in. in size, for varnishing the inside surfaces of bodies, these to be used for no other purpose. Then, properly, he should have a set of brushes for putting on first rubbing varnish coats, consisting of a 1-inch chiseled badger hair brush, and a 2 1/2 in. and one 3-in. bristle brush. ”