WHAT BRUSH IS THAT?

What brush is that?

I think the old art mantra of buying the best equipment you can afford is right. There is nothing nicer than using great paint with the best brushes and some expensive canvas or paper. It just feels superb!

But it's a mistake to believe that better equipment necessarily means better paintings. It doesn't.

The misconception begins when we see an expert artist at work and ask ourselves, "what are they using?”.  It’s as if we think it's the tools that are making the difference. I once overheard someone ask "what brand of pencil is the artist using?” The implication being that using that brand would help our work.

A few years back I was fortunate to buy some canvasses that were specially made for a well-known artist.  I thought they were precious and they were. They were undercoated with some special formula which let the brush glide over the surface - I was excited at what might be produced with them. Although they were amazing to paint on, there were no “amazing” results..

My great-uncle was an artist and family folklore has it that he could produce amazing works with something as simple as children's wax crayons. It was confirmed for me when I saw a portrait that he'd painted in oils on the rough side of a piece of masonite - it was truly magnificent and it wasn't the materials that were responsible.

I look back nearly 20 years on some of my early stuff using dodgy paint and cheap canvasses. They look exactly the same as when they were painted. Some work was produced with sample paint pots from the hardware store. It worked a treat and my guess is that they will outlive me and my children. I was particularly surprised at a portrait of my dad I painted 15 years ago using the cheapest, thinnest canvas. Everything remains as it was and the canvas hasn't warped a bit (75 x 60cm) - lucky maybe!

Having said that I recently saw artwork painted on these cheap canvasses curl up from the bottom in a hot hall - they were about 120 x 90cm, but they still sold!

When it comes to selling work, it's nice for customers to know that the best materials have been used  but in reality the medium-priced materials including canvasses will probably outlast anyone living today. It's worth noting though, that some galleries will not take paintings produced on commercially produced stretched canvas - I know this to be true!

All things considered it's good to know that our progress in painting won't be harmed by not being able to afford the best of materials, otherwise only the most well-off artists would be destined to succeed.

Happy painting,

Mike Barr